China migrant workers return to cities as crisis eases

BEIJING - Nearly all the migrant Chinese workers laid off last year during the global economic crisis have returned to jobs in the cities due to an improvement in the employment situation, an official said on Saturday.

'Currently, 96 per cent rural workers who went back to the countryside have already returned to the cities to work or do business,' vice agriculture minister Chen Xiaohua told reporters, stressing that 'with the stabilisation and revival of the economy, employment of migrant workers has improved'.

'In certain places, there are even problems of a lack of workers,' he added.
'According to our investigations, at the end of the second quarter the numbers of rural workers departing for the cities increased by 2.6 per cent compared to the first quarter,' Mr Chen said.

By the latest estimate, China had 225 million migrant workers.

At the start of the year, nearly 20 million of them were laid off because of factory closures due to the slump in exports amid the global economic downturn.

The Chinese authorities try to curb unemployment to avoid any social tensions which could degenerate into political unrest. -- AFP

My recent trip to China can confirm this. Guangzhou area, the factory of the world, is short of staffs. Many people complains difficult to find staffs because they left for other areas working for infrastructure projects.

Despite of 3 days down in a row for the US markets, I posted three good news in a row. Can we buy on dips, I certainly willl put some money to work when it dips between 10-19%(S&P 1068 as a reference point)