Saturday 10 March 2012

Shifting mindsets of migrant workers

It lasts for three decades that workers from rural area migrate to the coast. Nowadays, however, the trend seemingly begins to change; Inland population is working closer to its roots. Years ago, spurred by the Deng’s opening-up coastal provinces, like Guangdong a remarkable example, became booming. The increasing demand for exporting also boosted the demand for labourers. And salaries offered by coastal factories were usually far more appealing than those of inland manufacturers. Besides, people from rural area used to dream of dreamy life and plenty of bonuses were they lived in a cosmopolis. Thus, the lure of coastal cities results in migrants’ moving hundreds kilometres from their home to pursue better wages and better life. But, it changes. Due to increasing costs among costal region, giant companies, for instance Foxconn, established and are going to establish more factories in the inland city which means a large quantity of jobs available for workers. To attract workers, factories inland would provide quite fair wages even if not necessarily better than their costal counterparts. Once the worker take into account the higher living expanse in the big city working in inland factories would be more desirable. Further and maybe more significantly, working in those new inland places allows labourers to stay near to their home.

6 comments:

  1. It is not difficult for us to find those workers. They can easily be found in train which I had used for so many times during my senior school period. And accord to what I know now, the problems caused by migrated workers be not been solved yet. However it is better than before.

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  2. Indeed, if these big companies move into inland, there will be many benefits. For example, many inland cities will become prosperous, therefore, a new balance in China will be made instead of huge gap between them and coastal ones. This will promote stability of whole country. Maybe in this way, China can achieve its common prosperity. By the way, you have already become a professional economist after reading so many Economist! Awesome Zhouchen!

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    1. There is another benefit I want to add. In the past, those moving from rural areas to big cities were usually treated bedly, not just from the company but also from local government. They encountered many problems in those strenge cities. For instance, their children have no access to normal education and usually experienced the hardships as children of their ages of the city might not experience. If those companies move inland, most people inland don't have to move out; thus, their children can live more happily.

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  3. why do farmers in china want to move to cities even it is so difficult and the living expanse in cities is too high for them to afford???
    it is a good question for you the potential economist to think about.
    or this can be our research topic.
    you are always contemplative.

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  4. Excellent analysis! However, although the investment inland is increasing these days, migranting to coastal cities is still a inevitable trend.The job opportunities ,salaries and working environment are definitely far more better than those inland.
    Furthermore, most young people may leave home for a distant city to strive.They want to achieve their dreams through own effort. So, the phenomenon you reffered may not change so fast.

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  5. You have a wonderful analysis! There is indeed a shift among the immigrant workers. They used to immigrate to developed cities, most of which located in coastal city. However, they come back to their own homeland, where their living expense is lower and they can get together with their families. I think the basic cause of this change is that their salaries .

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