America's North Shore Journal

The numbers are huge, but in China they are still a small percentage of the overall workforce. That is, if the reports are accurate and not understated. The potential for a civil backlash is growing. Nearly 5 million migrant workers had returned home by the end of November, accounting for 5.4 percent of rural migrant workers, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said. Many of them had lost their jobs as the global financial crisis took its toll across the country. The 4.85 million migrant workers were mainly from 10 provinces including Sichuan, Hebei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan. Meanwhile, employers in the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian and Shandong, as well as Shanghai, have sacked 2.45 million people, accounting for 5.2 percent of the workforce in these areas, the ministry said. Shanghai … Read entire article »