Unemployment in China

There is no doubt the cost of labour in Zhuhai is rising, and very year the people I work with are having to address more and more labour issues forced upon them by the government. Last year they had to employ a certain percentage of "disabled" workers. They claim last year was bad for finding staff but expect this year to be much easier.

Having just spent a week in the country areas of Hunan province, I have absolutely no idea why you would ever want to live there, so I am sure the familiar wave of new people wanting work will continue for some time.

"Having just spent a week in the country areas of Hunan province, I have absolutely no idea why you would ever want to live there"

Ditto for where I am in Guangxi. This is NOT China-bashing...it's the brass tax facts of the situation. Zhuhai will be a very different place in the not-so-distant future---with or without the bridge (which I personally feel will get delayed ad infinitum.)

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/ea_china_02_15.asp

Canrun, i am afraid that i can't totally agree with the above numbers stated in the articles.

The official China internet Network Information Center, also known as CNNIC, said the online population grew 53%, from 137 million reported at the same time last year.

In some respect, i believe businesses in China thus are being urged to invest in a generic domain name after experts revealed that the domain name and internet traffic industries will enjoy huge growth this year.

@today:

I ask in all seriousness...why would you trust the "official China" ANYTHING for reliable information?

I also ask: what does the original post have to do with Internet domain names?

Seriously, i wouldn't trust the "Official China" all the time. I think i should have my own judgement! It depends.

what's more, i understand that exchange rates affect foreign competition! but as to the whether many of the migrant workers from Guangdong were heading back to their home towns permanently ? i don't really know, but i guess it probably has something to do with the newly labour law here!

Different people might have different way of seeing things, as for me, maybe my job require mes to read a lot news ragarding the INternet domain names, i just can't help wondering about if the those shoe factories are relocating, then are they going to register a new domain name for their business? you know .cn and .us is different indicating the distict of their business.

Another article for your reading pleasure.

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=12&art_id=61679&sid...

The bridge will be constructed; in fact the news last night was that financing has been worked out; there will be a tunnel to allow ship passage, and construction might begin by the end of this year.

As for reliable information, well, I can't run from it.

How the future Hong Kong/Macau/Zhuhai bridge might look like:-

http://zhuhai.expat9.com/image/how-future-hong-kong-/macau/zhuhai-bridge...

This year every factory (and I presume all businesses) have to provide some form of workers insurance for ALL employees. This is a significant increase in costs to many Chinese businesses. In the west I believe it's about 4% of the wages bill - but with a much lower staff levels and on higher wages. I suspect the effect here might be much higher.

The government has told every business to lift the minimum wage (or so I was told). I believe it went from RMB600 a month to RMB700 (or was it 700 to 800 ?). I wish I could get a 16% increase !! There is a popular saying that rings very true around here, "pay peanuts - get monkeys"!!

This minimum wage business is a big game around here (southern Guangdong). If the employers are required to pay an additional 100 yuan a month, they simply work their employees and additional 10 hours or so a month. Simple, Eh?

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You can get more with a kind word....and a gun....than you can with only a kind word!

Not ALL employers use that tactic, but a significant number of them do.

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You can get more with a kind word....and a gun....than you can with only a kind word!

That used to be the trick, but it's a free market, and if the factory down the road is offerring 900rmb for 50 hours and 3 meals a day, the factory with 850rmb, 55 hours and 2 meals a day very quickly looses staff. I have seen people change jobs for 30rmb a month. It comes down to supply and demand. It is seemingly impossible to have the bosses pay more for good staff to keep them as they feel it will cause discontent amongst the rest of the staff. Hence we are constantly hiring to the lowest denominator, and it drives me nuts and I am continually training < in my quest to not be negative ... insert here yourself the name of an animal that eats nuts .... there, I didn't say it >.

great self-control, roy. lol!

Back to the original post, last year the people I work with had 120 staff. This year they have 90 and claim they will just have to be more productive to make up for the extra (government imposed) costs. Kind of a double edge sword - because the companies are not hiring, these is less work and more unemployed which will in effect bring the price down, only to be forced up again by the extra imposts. Hence status quo, but with the less educated and less able missing out.