More migrant workers in Guangdong are committing crimes, especially sex offences, because of heavy workloads and inadequate sex lives, local authorities and researchers have said.

Twenty-five people were arrested this year for sex crimes, 10 of whom were migrant workers, the prosecution department of Xinhui district in Jiangmen city was reported by the Guangzhou Daily as saying on Friday.

The number of arrests is reportedly 50 percent higher than that of the previous year.

Almost 30 million migrants work in Guangdong, with 57 percent of them men, statistics from the provincial labor and social security department have shown.

In textile and shoe factories in the province, more than 80 percent of workers are women. About 90 percent of migrant workers in the construction and mining industries are men.

Eight-six percent of the migrant workers are aged between 18 and 35 years old, official figures showed.

In a recent survey by the Guangzhou Daily, 29 of 46 migrant workers aged from 25 to 30 years old said they had not had sex for at least half a year, while 14 said they had not had sex for more than a year.

"We need love, care and an adequate sex life, just like other people," Li Donglin, a migrant worker in Jiangmen, said.

"Migrant workers are suffering from depression caused by a lack of sex and a lot of problems can arise from this situation," Guan Hong, a researcher of the social sciences academy of Guangzhou, said on Friday.

"Some migrant workers suffer from mental problems, while others could visit prostitutes and might contract venereal diseases," he said.

A number of these migrant workers might also commit sex crimes such as rape "when their sexual desires cannot be satisfied", he said.

A solution for migrant workers suffering from these problems is for employers or the authorities to provide temporary accommodation for migrant workers who are in the same city with their spouses, Tao Lin, a sexologist from Guangdong, said.

Most workers currently live in dormitories with other co-workers.

Tao also encouraged migrant workers to participate in social interaction activities.

Migrant workers can benefit from making friends of the opposite sex through normal and healthy channels, she said.

(China Daily November 29, 2008)