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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| China: Up to 26 million migrants now jobless |
| 2009-02-02 |
| An estimated 26 million desperately poor rural Chinese are jobless after pinning their hopes on factory jobs that dried up due to the global economic slowdown, an official said Monday, noting that widespread unemployment could threaten the country's social stability. The figures were announced one day after Beijing warned of "possibly the toughest year" since the turn of the century, calling for development of agriculture and rural areas to offset the economic fallout. Though many Chinese cities have seen double-digit growth in recent years, the countryside has lagged far behind, forcing peasants to seek urban factory jobs churning out goods that are sold around the world. But a recent government survey showed that slightly more than 15 percent of China's estimated 130 million migrant workers have returned to their hometowns and are now unemployed, said Chen Xiwen, director of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, a central government advisory body. Another 5 or 6 million new migrants enter the work force each year, he added. "So, if we put those figures together, we have roughly 25 to 26 million rural migrant workers who are now coming under pressures for employment," he said. "So from that perspective, ensuring job creation and maintenance is ensuring the stability of the countryside." In comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate climbed to a 16-year high of 7.2 percent in December, meaning about 11.1 million Americans are without jobs, or less than half the number of unemployed migrants in China. Chen's 26 million figure is separate from China's official jobless tally, which only counts registered urban workers, and was estimated last November to total 8.3 million. The official government rate is widely believed to underrepresent the true number of unemployed because it leaves out large swaths of the private or informal economy. Neither count includes the millions of Chinese college graduates trying to enter the work force. Chinese authorities have stressed that their priority in 2009 will be ensuring development in the countryside, where many have come to rely on remittances from migrants working in factories and on urban construction sites, amid fears of social unrest. Many factory workers have already taken to the streets in recent weeks, demanding pay and protesting layoffs. Chen outlined a raft of existing policies geared toward helping migrants including encouraging companies to retain workers, investing in public projects to absorb rural workers and helping returning migrants set up businesses in their hometowns. "Maintaining the stability of the countryside is a focal point of upholding overall social stability," Chen said. China's economic growth — once red-hot — plunged to 6.8 percent in the three months through December, compared with a year earlier. Analysts have cut forecasts of 2009 economic growth to as low as 5 percent. Premier Wen Jiabao said in comments published Monday that Beijing was considering new steps to boost economic growth. The Financial Times report did not give details of the potential plan, which would follow a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) package unveiled in November with heavy spending on public works projects. Unlike "Dear Leader's" $900 billion spending spree that allocates less than 5% to public works. Meanwhile, China's communist rulers have told the military to strictly obey the Communist Party, reflecting insecurity among authorities as a result of the global downturn. Similar calls have been made in the past, underscoring the important role China's massive military plays in supporting one-party rule and maintaining social stability. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #13 WORLD MIL FORUM > BRITISH SCHOLARS PREDICT COLLAPSE OF "CHINESE STATE/ECONOMIC MODEL" DUE TO HEAVY ECONOMIC FOREIGN-DEPENDENCY; + CHINA LENDS THE USA AN AVERAGE OF APPROXIMATELY US$40,BILYUHN EVERY DAY??? * SAME > THE NEW OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WILL DIG THE GRAVES OF AMERICA AND US-WORLD CAPITALISM; + AMERICA OR AMERIKA: WHAT KIND OF USA WILL SURVIVE AND EMERGE FROM THE GLOBAL RECESSION? POTUS OBAMA + ADMIN [Bam-Man's POTUS Policies] will lead the way and "MAKE OR BREAK" the USA into the OWG World-conquering USSA, or the weak Global SSR USRoA!? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-02-02 23:08 |
| #12 "How ya gonna keep em, down on the farm After they've seen Beijing?" How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen the farm, AP? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-02-02 22:54 |
| #11 How ya gonna keep em, down on the farm After they've seen Beijing? *rimshot* |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2009-02-02 22:45 |
| #10 I read many years ago that the main purpose of wars was to eliminate the excess male population. |
| Posted by: Rednek Jim 2009-02-02 20:16 |
| #9 True public works like real infrastructure development in the interior versas dig a hole - fill in a hole would let off a lot of social steam and would improve China as a whole. As for 26 million not being that many people in China, who many did Mao start out with in the 1930s? |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2009-02-02 17:24 |
| #8 Yah, but all have rural roots. Moving back to the farm isn't really a tragedy. And 26 million isn't a large number in China. |
| Posted by: Tsin Tsin 2009-02-02 16:54 |
| #7 Huge digital TV orders will soon be arriving from the US. Until then, think roads, bridges, and dams, infrasture development. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-02-02 14:13 |
| #6 I'd put them to work putting out coal mine fires. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2009-02-02 14:08 |
| #5 LH: we kind of prefer actual tax cuts, as opposed to one-time welfare grants wearing novelty glasses and a fake mustache. Not that Bush didn't repeatedly pull the same crap stunt... |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-02-02 13:31 |
| #4 the tinder accumulates Along the lines of what I was thinking. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2009-02-02 13:21 |
| #3 It's not a tax cut: In its centerpiece tax cut, single workers would gain $500 and couples $1,000, even if they don't earn enough to owe federal income taxes. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-02-02 12:41 |
| #2 "that allocates less than 5% to public works." I thought you guys preferred tax cuts. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2009-02-02 12:33 |
| #1 the tinder accumulates |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2009-02-02 12:32 |