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PRD migrants in dilemma

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-14 08:11

Despite the severe shortage of jobs in the Pearl River Delta, rural migrant workers are finding it hard to return to their hometowns for work, says an article in Qilu Evening News. The following is an excerpt:

A large number of factory closures and layoffs have occurred in Pearl River Delta in the wake of the global financial crisis. But rural migrant workers, who have been rendered jobless, are still not ready to return to the countryside, even though factories there are in dire need of manpower, due to low salaries.

The workers believe they can get better opportunities in the Pearl River Delta than in their rural hometowns.

They're thinking just like the college graduates, who prefer a temporary job in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai to a stable job in small and medium-sized towns.

The migrants are giving more importance to long-term development opportunities than their short-term interests.

After all, the Pearl River Delta is abundant with various types of opportunities including jobs.

We must understand that these rural migrant workers are not actually "migrants". They might live and work in the Pearl River Delta, but they are still not accepted as permanent residents there.

But in their hearts, they have probably accepted the region as their home and that's why they're not leaving even though jobs are few.

They are in a dilemma. They will not leave a place they have contributed to a great deal unless prospects of landing another job are extremely promising.