Young migrant workers in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen are sorely underpaid but in no position to ask for more money, state media yesterday cited a survey as showing against a backdrop of strikes.
Factories in China’s export powerhouse province of Guangdong have been hit by a string of stoppages over the past few months by workers demanding a bigger slice of the country’s economic wealth.
In Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong, the average monthly wage for young migrant workers is less than half that of those who hold full-time, long-term jobs in the same city, at 1,838.6 yuan (US$271.3), the survey found.
“Many companies pay in line with the city’s lowest minimum standard, and migrant workers can only raise their income by doing excessive amounts of overtime,” the All-China Federation of Trade Unions said.
Such a salary “can only maintain the very lowest standards of living in Shenzhen,” it said.
The survey, excerpts of which were carried in Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) the People’s Daily, made no reference to the bout of strikes, in line with the muted coverage of the unrest by Chinese media.
The latest strike has affected a plant supplying parts to Honda Motors’ China operations.
However, the publication of the study in an official newspaper shows that the rising demands of a new generation of workers migrating from villages, or born to migrants in the cities, are weighing on policymakers. A similar report last month warned migrant demands were a test for stability, something the CCP values above all else.
The new survey pointed out that young migrant workers were in a weak position when it came to pushing for higher pay.
“They ... don’t know much about protecting their rights and ... lack communication channels within companies,” the survey said. “When their rights are infringed upon, in most cases they choose to change jobs, so there is a lot of movement of labor.”
Young migrants thought they should be getting at least 2,679 yuan a month, but would need 4,200 yuan a month to be able to afford to have a family, the survey found.
Though they were better educated than the generation of migrants that came before them, they were still essentially doing the same manual jobs and few had risen to the ranks of management, it said.
But only 1 percent would go back to the countryside.
“Everything will get better and better, as long as we work hard and keep forging ahead,” more than three-quarters of respondents said.
The newspaper did not say how many people took part.
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