Gloomy New Year for China s Factory Workers
Here in the outskirts of China’s financial capital, Shanghai, it is the country’s migrant workers who will bear the brunt of falling demand in major markets in Europe and North America.
This year, many have left for home early and may not come back to work in the factories, which are being shut down. But some have chosen not to return home and are looking to save their money and hoping for better luck in the new year.
Thirty-three-year-old Xu Manxiang (pron: she-man-sheeang) has just been laid off from his job at a nearby electronics factory.
[Xu Manxiang, Unemployed]:
“I am feeling the impact now that I have lost my job. Due to the economic crisis, it can be quite costly to go home for the Chinese New Year. After thinking about it, I felt I should be more thrifty and spend less money. The main thing is that we thought we should spend less money and try to ride out this crisis.”
Xu is one of around 200 million migrant workers in China, whose number is greater than the population of Brazil. They have provided the cheap labor underpinning the proliferation of China-made goods worldwide. An estimated 10 million migrant workers have lost their jobs in recent months.
The Xu family says that if things get worse they will be ready to pack their bags and go home for good.
[Wu Xiongjin, Xu's Wife]:
“Some of them said that if orders are less next year, the factory might lay off some workers. I think that if they retrench me and give me compensation, I would go home to work at a farm or do something else while I tend to my child. Now if all of a sudden, I leave due to my own will, I wouldn’t feel too good about it. I’ll think about this after the Chinese New Year.”
With the New Year on January 26, thousands of migrant workers are waiting patiently to buy tickets with heavy hearts, many wondering whether they will return.
Duration : 0:2:13
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