Zhang Qimin, from the outskirts of Chengdu, found a job as a receptionist in Chengdu recently and was paid 2,000 yuan (US$293) each month. Her employer has promised to buy her social insurance if she can work there for a full year. Zhang said that she could earn almost the same if she did the same job in Guangdong and Shanghai.

Many employers in Chengdu have also promised bonuses and insurance in addition to basic salary.

In addition, local governments are making efforts to get the workers re-employed locally and set up technical training facilities to aid them. More than 3,000 lesser-skilled workers in Nanjiang County have received training in woodworking, brickworking and electro-welding.

Migrant workers become more socially aware as a group

Farmer-turned-migrant workers in China number hundreds of millions, and they are still growing. We cannot overlook its great impact on the Chinese economy, society and even politics.

They have their own rights and interests: they want their children to get more education, and they appeal for basic social insurance, as well as a better salary and working environment.

In fact, many Chinese migrant workers do not have social security, and good working and living environments are also not guaranteed. Each migrant worker loses hundreds of yuan every year on average due to lack of efficient insurance, which is about 10 percent of their annual income, according to a survey conducted by the Relief Center for Migrant Workers of Sichuan Province.

Now the new generation of migrant workers is young, more educated and sociable. They also have a better sense of identity toward the city life. But their rights and interests still have not been guaranteed. In reality, there is actually no labor shortage in general. The current perceived labor shortfall is due to the lack of social insurance.

(China.org.cn Translated by Yang Xi November 17, 2009)