Failing Farmers Flock To The Factory Floor

By Zhang Zhihao (China Daily) Updated: 2016-09-22 08:11

A folktale coming true

Yunxi is the home of The Cowherd and the Weaving Maid, a famous folktale in which ill-starred lovers were banished to opposite sides of the heavens, meeting just once a year across the Milky Way via a bridge of sparrows. The tale has become the symbol of the pilot program.

"The government is the 'Sparrow Bridge' connecting rural workers and companies," said Cha Fangzheng, Yunxi's deputy minister of propaganda.

Through a series of individually tailored arrangements and policy incentives, the governments helped impoverished rural workers to find the most suitable and stable work near their homes, or in Guangdong province.

Vice-premier Wang Yang proposed the program during a visit to Yunxi on Feb 25. Since then, thousands of government inspectors have visited the three counties to conduct detailed surveys, collecting information, from phone numbers to work experience, to store on an online database.

"Identifying the size of the available labor force, the status of migrant workers and each worker's preferences may ensure that every rural worker finds the most suitable job," said Wang Lupu, deputy director of the Hunan administration of employment services.

Chen Wei, a 25-year-old from Sanyuan village in Yunxi, was recovering from a broken leg and needed to find work he could do sitting down. On April 8, the village Party secretary called Chen, told him he sympathized with his situation and encouraged him to participate in the county's capital job fair later that month. He also sent Chen a list of companies to choose from.

For Yunxi workers, most of the companies came from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan and Foshan in Guangdong, where demand for general workers is high. In addition, workers from Huayuan and Longshan could also opt to work in Changsha, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan in Hunan.

The companies were handpicked by the governments of the outsourcing and destination cities, based on their record of corporate social responsibility and treatment of employees. The governments then matched workers with jobs, negotiated conditions and organized recruitment fairs based on the hiring demands submitted by the companies or collected by human resources and social security officials.

"The government facilitates the employment process, and the market decides who to hire," said Kuang Zoufei, deputy chief of Xiangxi prefecture. "The program will solve the companies' labor shortages and poverty in the villages. It's a win-win situation."

By August, the program had found jobs for 22,000 new workers from Xiangxi and 8,000 from Yunxi, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The average monthly salary for those who chose to work in Changsha, Zhuzhou, and Xiangtan ranged from 2,000-4,000 yuan, while those in Guangdong earned between 3,000-5,000 yuan. "In general, one employee's yearly earnings are enough to lift the entire family out of poverty," Kuang said.

During the job fair, a company in Shenzhen signed Chen Wei to work on a production line - a seated job. "I tried to look for a job on my own and got swindled by recruiters," he said. "Now the government has become the intermediary, I feel relieved and more secure."

Four months later, Qian Dayan joined the same company as a production logistics worker. "I can finally take care of myself and my family again," he said.