Virgil
02-02-2009, 12:52 PM
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/02/world/main4769075.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_4769075
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China: Up To 26M Migrants Now Jobless
Official Warns Widespread Unemployment Could Threaten Country's Social Stability
Comments Comments17
BEIJING, Feb. 2, 2009
(AP) An estimated 26 million desperately poor rural Chinese are jobless after pinning their hopes on factory jobs that dried up due to the global economic slowdown, an official said Monday, noting that widespread unemployment could threaten the country's social stability.
The figures were announced one day after Beijing warned of "possibly the toughest year" since the turn of the century, calling for development of agriculture and rural areas to offset the economic fallout. Though many Chinese cities have seen double-digit growth in recent years, the countryside has lagged far behind, forcing peasants to seek urban factory jobs churning out goods that are sold around the world.
But a recent government survey showed that slightly more than 15 percent of China's estimated 130 million migrant workers have returned to their hometowns and are now unemployed, said Chen Xiwen, director of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, a central government advisory body. Another 5 or 6 million new migrants enter the work force each year, he added.
"So, if we put those figures together, we have roughly 25 to 26 million rural migrant workers who are now coming under pressures for employment," he said. "So from that perspective, ensuring job creation and maintenance is ensuring the stability of the countryside."
In comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate climbed to a 16-year high of 7.2 percent in December, meaning about 11.1 million Americans are without jobs, or less than half the number of unemployed migrants in China.
Chen's 26 million figure is separate from China's official jobless tally, which only counts registered urban workers, and was estimated last November to total 8.3 million. The official government rate is widely believed to under-represent the true number of unemployed because it leaves out large swaths of the private or informal economy.
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China: Up To 26M Migrants Now Jobless
Official Warns Widespread Unemployment Could Threaten Country's Social Stability
Comments Comments17
BEIJING, Feb. 2, 2009
(AP) An estimated 26 million desperately poor rural Chinese are jobless after pinning their hopes on factory jobs that dried up due to the global economic slowdown, an official said Monday, noting that widespread unemployment could threaten the country's social stability.
The figures were announced one day after Beijing warned of "possibly the toughest year" since the turn of the century, calling for development of agriculture and rural areas to offset the economic fallout. Though many Chinese cities have seen double-digit growth in recent years, the countryside has lagged far behind, forcing peasants to seek urban factory jobs churning out goods that are sold around the world.
But a recent government survey showed that slightly more than 15 percent of China's estimated 130 million migrant workers have returned to their hometowns and are now unemployed, said Chen Xiwen, director of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, a central government advisory body. Another 5 or 6 million new migrants enter the work force each year, he added.
"So, if we put those figures together, we have roughly 25 to 26 million rural migrant workers who are now coming under pressures for employment," he said. "So from that perspective, ensuring job creation and maintenance is ensuring the stability of the countryside."
In comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate climbed to a 16-year high of 7.2 percent in December, meaning about 11.1 million Americans are without jobs, or less than half the number of unemployed migrants in China.
Chen's 26 million figure is separate from China's official jobless tally, which only counts registered urban workers, and was estimated last November to total 8.3 million. The official government rate is widely believed to under-represent the true number of unemployed because it leaves out large swaths of the private or informal economy.
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