英文阅读：All hail China's new job-seekers
Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, held its first labor fair of thelunar new year a few days ago, but the job-seekers gathered there appeared not
to be as enthusiastic as their counterparts of years past. For the first time,
the number of job-hunters fell far short of the number of vacancies advertised
at the fair: 4,000 versus 7,000.
The employers could only raise their salary standards - on average, to
1,160 yuan ($155) a month, representing an increase of 13 percent compared with
previous years.
Similar phenomena also appeared in other cities in the Pearl River Delta
area, one of China's major manufacturing centers. The area has for years been
the largest employer of migrant laborers from the country's rural areas.
The changes sweeping over the job-seeking public have prompted some
economic commentators to cry out in alarm that China is losing its advantage in
cheap labor. But some others have argued against such worries, saying that on
the whole, the country's labor supply still exceeds the demand.
Though they contradict each other, the two sides share a common concern:
the impact of changing labor costs on China's exports, which have been a major
engine driving the nation's economic growth.
In my opinion, we should be pleased rather than worried about the
situation. Manual laborers can now expect better wages, which is good for both
social justice and the wellbeing of the economy.
Most of the manual workers employed by manufacturers in coastal regions are
migrants from the country's impoverished rural provinces. In the past two
decades or so, they have contributed greatly to our nation's economic
development by working diligently, for whatever their employers would like to
pay.
Their pay has been capped at too low a level for too long a time. An
investigation in 2004 found that the average monthly wage for migrant workers in
the Pearl River Delta region had risen only 68 yuan in 12 years.
In the past few years, that level has risen at a comparatively faster rate.
The national average monthly wage for rural migrant workers rose from the 539
yuan in 2004 to 946 yuan in 2006.
The rises in pay and laborers' wage expectations can be attributed to a
number of reasons. Two of them merit our notice. One is that rural residents'
incomes have increased significantly in the past few years thanks to the strong
economic growth and favorable government policies (the annulment of the
agricultural tax, for instance). A survey by the statistics authorities late
last year indicated that rural residents' per capita cash income had hit 3,321
yuan in the first three quarters of last year, up 14.8 percent year-on-year.
The low wages at manufacturing plants are no longer enough to attract rural
migrant workers.
The second reason is that rural migrant workers themselves have changed.
The new generation is more knowledgeable and modern-minded than their parents
and less tolerant of harsh working conditions and low pay. They are more ready
to change jobs. And their consumption habits inspire them to seek higher
pay.
These changes are encouraging signs of the progress our society has made.
Rising living standards benefit our economy because they will bolster the
population's buying power, which is the most essential contributor to the growth
of the economy.
Encouragingly, consumption has shown signs of growing. China's GDP grew a
hefty 11.4 percent last year, with consumption contributing 4.4 percentage
points, investment 4.3 percentage points and exports 2.7 percentage points.
Consumption surpassed investment for the first time in several years.
E-mail: liushinan@chinadaily.com.cn
页:
[1]