Carolynne Wheeler
Beijing 19 August 2009
Last fall, Lu Haicheng became a statistic, one of an estimated 20 million to 30 million Chinese migrant workers thrown out of work when his factory, hit by global recession, shut down.
Today, he's another statistic – one of what Chinese authorities say is the more than 95 per cent of migrant workers who have found new jobs in a recovering economy. “I am not clear if the people who found jobs again are suffering with lower salaries. But for me, the conditions are better,” the 29-year-old said, as he left an early shift of painting in one of Beijing's many high-end office and housing developments.
Last fall, the factory in Jinjiang in southern Fujian province where Mr. Lu worked making aluminum window frames closed, forcing him to scramble for any job he could find. For a time, he and a friend did interior painting in Nanjing, several hours to the north – although for lower wages in dirty working conditions, and with meals and accommodation paid out of their own pockets. That work, too, dried up within weeks as building projects slowed.
But as the Chinese government poured money into the economy, frantically trying to stimulate growth, Mr. Lu – and thousands of other migrant workers – found his lot improving. He moved to Beijing, where a post-Olympics building boom continues despite a high vacancy rate, largely thanks to government spending on infrastructure and support for generous bank 
Today, Mr. Lu is making as much as he once made at the factory – 100 yuan a day (about $16), and the crisp, white, button-down shirt and pressed jeans he wears off the job are signs that he is again getting ahead.
“In a factory, we often worked overtime, but the work was cleaner and there were better conditions. Here it's dirtier, but we feel more freedom,” Mr. Lu said, carrying his dirty painting clothes in a plastic bag.
China's broader employment picture, however, is far from rosy. The unemployment
“The global financial
Migrant workers, who are not tallied in the official unemployment rate, are difficult to track. Their numbers are estimated at 150 million, and they form the backbone of the Chinese economy, building the roads, bridges and buildings that are the centrepieces of New China.
Officials say they believe that fewer than 3 per cent of the migrant workers who returned to the cities after the Chinese New Year holiday in February – or about 4.5 million people – are still looking for work.
It seems a promising development in China's efforts to keep its economy growing. What is less spoken of are the increasingly harsh conditions those migrant workers face in their new jobs.
Before the global recession, Chinese factories had begun to respond to pressure from the public, foreign companies and workers themselves to improve labour conditions. The downturn now means migrant workers are generally earning less money and working in more difficult jobs than before.
“From the beginning, I didn't feel migrant workers would have high unemployment, because they cannot afford to be unemployed. So they will take jobs, even if they have to accept lower wages,” said Cai Fang, a professor in the Institute of Population and Labour Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin, which tracks labour trends on the mainland, has found that while employment opportunities for migrant workers have improved in the past six months, working conditions have not.
“I think efforts were being made to enforce labour legislation at this time last year, and they have very much been put on the shelf. Factories are moving to areas that say either privately or publicly, ‘Don't worry, we don't enforce labour legislation here,'” said Geoffrey Crothall, editor of the Bulletin. He cited one horrendous case publicized in Chinese media about an entire village in Hunan province suffering from deadly cadmium poisoning from illegal dumping by a nearby factory.
“The government focus really seems to be on creating jobs … and not really giving that much attention to the conditions under which they have to work when they do have a job,” Mr. Crothall added.
That decline in working conditions also affects China's hopes to continue its economic growth, which the government has pledged will reach 8 per cent this year.
A cornerstone of China's economic recovery plan has been to try to increase domestic consumer demand, through discounts and voucher programs on everything from washing machines and computers to new cars.
But a drop in the purchasing power of migrant workers – whose salaries often go toward luxury purchases such as refrigerators and televisions for family back home – dampens official hopes of creating a more significant market for Chinese factories in their own backyard.
“For a long time now, the Chinese government has advocated a change in growth patterns, trying to shift growth in demand from external demand to domestic demand,” said Prof. Cai, at the Academy of Social Sciences.
“For the moment [the stimulus spending] is okay, because we want to keep 8-per-cent GDP growth, and in that case people can continue working and expand consumption,” he said. “But if we cannot see the next round in which people can spend their money and push economic growth by increasing their consumerism, I would think the growth pattern would move back to the old track.”
For some migrant workers, that kind of spending is the last thing on their minds.
Bian Jiachun, 50, had to leave his farm in Shandong province for the first time earlier this year in search of work, after his 22-year-old son was laid off from a factory job and could no longer help his family.
“It was hard to find a job here,” said Mr. Bian, on a short lunch break from a Beijing construction site where he earns 80 yuan a day doing menial tasks.
“I have no choice. I have to do this job. Last year the factory closings affected many people, they lost their jobs. Now they all went out to find new jobs, and if they can't find one like the old, they'll just take another.”