Numer of migrant workers participated in recruitment fair hold by Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions on Feb.22, 2009 [CFP]

More than a quarter of a million migrant workers in the city lost their jobs in the first three months this year.

The number of migrant workers in Shanghai's social security system dropped to 3.57 million in March, from 3.83 million at the end of 2008, Zhou Haiyang, director of Shanghai municipal human resources and social security bureau, told the standing committee of Shanghai municipal people's congress.

While some returned home or went elsewhere to look for work, 166,000 unemployed migrant workers were still in Shanghai at the end of March, though they were 36 percent fewer than at the end of February, he said.

With the number of unemployed on the rise, Shanghai's employment situation could continue to worsen as the financial crisis is far from bottoming out, according to Zhou.

Between October, when the crisis began to take effect in Shanghai, to March, 18,000 more urban workers registered as unemployed in the city, bringing the total number to 270,600.

"The actual number could be more than that," Zhou said.

In January, the number of job vacancies decreased nearly 20,000 from October, while the number of applicants remained about 150,000. Vacancies increased to 127,800 in March, normally the best month for the job market, but it still failed to satisfy 186,500 applicants.

Those facing the most difficulty are upcoming university graduates, migrant workers, white collar workers and those with ailing enterprises, he said.

About 158,000 university students will graduate in the summer. A survey by Shanghai Foreign Service Co Ltd found that more than 70 percent of them had not secured a job by mid March.

(China Daily April 24, 2009)