Migrant Workers Stay Home

For the first time in China's recent history of economic boom, many employers in China's Eastern and Southeastern provinces are struggling to fill positions, especially in factories for massive produce products for exporting industry. The seemingly endless flow of cheap labor from China's vast rural areas is what drove the country to become the world's predominant exporter, but those days may be coming to an end.

As China's building boom continues, and rural areas become third tier cities with millions of citizens overnight, many former candidates for migrant work are choosing to stay home. Though the percentage of the migrant population is still impressive when compared with most countries, the number as a percentage of the population has been diminishing in China.

This shift in workforce away from traditionally industrial cities has also given strength to a new generation of Chinese workers. They have slowly begun to demand higher wages and more workers rights, having realized that they are in fact no longer as easily replaceable as they once were.  Seen by many at home and abroad as a product of China's strict family planning policies, this shift has been a long time coming and it is a positive sign for young workers.  For this new generation progress has still been slow, and not necessarily in step with the country's fast economic rise, but the move is still a step in the right direction and away from the poor conditions many of their parents were forced to endure throughout the beginnings of China's export boom three decades ago.

A good friend of mine has also fallen victim to this trend of reverse migration. Having kept the same “Ayi” (pronounced “I-E”, it's the Chinese term for housemaid, but literally meaning “auntie”) for going on three years, he was heartbroken when she told him she would not be returning to Beijing after leaving for the 2011 Lunar New Year. It's anecdotal truth of what's happening all of the country in all fields of work.  Many factories are struggling to maintain the same high levels of cheaply produced goods that they're internationally known for, and my friend is struggling to relearn how to wash his own dishes.