Employers in the cities along the Yangtze River Delta, one of the country's most vibrant economic areas, are flocking to the central and western provinces to set up their recruitment and training bases.

 

China Daily reported Saturday that statistics released by related bureaux in the delta's 16 cities show that in addition to the 13 million migrant laborers already employed to date, the region will still demand 700,000 to 1 million more laborers every year in the near future.

 

It has also emerged that 68 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises in the region experience a shortage of skilled workers.

 

"Compared with the shortage for average migrant workers, the demand for skilled workers seems more compelling," according to an official surnamed Xiang, from the Jiangsu Provincial Labor and Social Security Department.

 

The official said the advantage of setting up their own labor input bases is to ensure sufficient labor resources and help enhance their proficiency.

 

"Once the delta cities choose their target cities, they will provide training to those laborers in a systematic way," said Xiang.

 

According to Xu Ying, an official from the Labor and Social Security Department of Jiangxi Province, a major labor output province in the country, the labor bases benefit both parties.

 

Xu said Jiangxi has established about 140 labor output bases specializing in various fields, including textile, manufacturing, and construction industries.

 

"Through coordination with our customer cities, we ensure that our customer cities get the types of workers they need and our workers always have good jobs to do," the official said.

 

A survey recently released by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security shows that instead of relying on help from relatives, 27 percent of the migrant workers rely on the labor bases to look for jobs.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2006)