employment | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

30/07/2014

China Focus: Hukou reforms to help 100 mln Chinese – Xinhua | English.news.cn

China plans to help about 100 million people without urban ID records to settle in towns and cities by 2020, as part of reforms to phase out its dual-household registration system, the State Council, China’s cabinet, said on Wednesday.

It issued a circular aimed at accelerating reform of the nation’s household registration, or “hukou,” system.

The document said the government will remove the limits on hukou registration in townships and small cities, relax restrictions in medium-sized cities, and set qualifications for registration in big cities.

The rights and benefits of residents who do not have urban ID records in the city where they live should be safeguarded, the document added.

At a press conference on Wednesday, vice public security minister Huang Ming said different approaches will be applied in the hukou system, based on the size and population of a city.

Authorities will set no limits for those who want to settle in small cities and towns. “Anyone who has a legal residence can register for permanent residence, even temporary tenants,” Huang said.

Medium-sized cities with a population between one million and three million will have a low threshold, while megacities with more than five million residents will try to strictly control the influx of new citizens.

People wishing to settle in megacities like Beijing and Shanghai will have to qualify through a “points system” based on their seniority in employment, their accommodation and social security, according to Huang.

Megacities “face a lot population pressure, with an annual floating population of hundreds of thousands,” the official said.

via China Focus: Hukou reforms to help 100 mln Chinese – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

China says to ensure “orderly” rural-urban migration

Posted in China alert, Economics, employment, migrant worker, temporary workers | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, City, Family register, household registration, Huang Ming, Hukou system, reforms, registration, Shanghai, State Council, Xinhua News Agency

01/07/2014

Samsung’s China Labor Problems Persist – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Samsung Electronics Co.’s latest sustainability report, published Monday, is a rare look inside the operations of the company. Among the takeaways: Samsung is still struggling with poor labor conditions at its Chinese suppliers.

A third-party audit of 100 of Samsung’s suppliers in China last year showed that 59 failed to provide sufficient safety equipment, like earplugs and protective goggles, or did not monitor workers to ensure they were using such equipment, according to the report.

The report lists a series of other problems found by the audit, including issues related to wages and benefits and emergency preparedness. The audit also found that a majority of the suppliers do not comply with China’s legally permitted overtime hours. Samsung said it has demanded its suppliers address all the violations found by the report.

The results follow a vow made by Samsung in 2012 that it would address unfair labor practices at its Chinese suppliers, including overwork and denial of basic labor rights. On multiple occasions, the company has been accused by New York-based non-profit organization China Labor Watch of malpractice at some factories that do work for Samsung.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, Samsung said: “We have adopted a multi-year, multifaceted supplier management plan since 2012 to address the findings of internal and independent audits of Samsung supplier companies in China.”

“If any suppliers are found to have not made progress, Samsung will constantly call for corrective actions to ensure the issue is resolved in the shortest time possible,” it said.

Maintaining a safe and fair working environment for its staff and those of its suppliers around the globe has been a growing challenge for the world’s largest maker of smartphones, TVs and memory-chips. The company has come under scrutiny over related issues not only in China but also in Brazil and at home in South Korea.

via Samsung’s China Labor Problems Persist – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, Economics, employment, labour shortage | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Brazil, China, China Labor Watch, Chinese language, New York City, Samsung, Samsung Electronics, South Korea, Supply chain

24/06/2014

A Neglected Problem in China’s Education System – China Real Time Report – WSJ

China’s top two leaders recently presided over a rare discussion on vocational education where they pushed for major changes to the country’s retrograde technical schools.

Political leaders everywhere are known to pay lip service to the need for improvements in education, but concern over China’s vocational schools is likely more than that just political bluster. That’s because the quality of the country’s lower-level technical schools could have a major impact on the country’s future economic growth.

As China looks to climb into the ranks of developed nations, one of its main goals is to evolve beyond serving as the world’s factory floor. One barrier to achieving that goal, analysts and education officials say, is the country’s lack of highly-skilled workers.

Premier Li Keqiang emphasized that point at Monday’s meeting, saying a “massive skilled labor force” was needed to upgrade the “made in China” label, “from ‘adequate’ to ‘high-quality’ and ‘premium’” (in Chinese).

Mr. Li was talking at an unusual national-level work conference on vocational education – only the 3rd such conference to be held in China since 1978. China’s President Xi Jinping gave the opening remarks, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency, signifying the level of importance China’s leadership places on the topic.

The attention is warranted: China’s vocational programs — which teach practical skills ranging from carpentry to forestry and encompass more than 29 million students, according to Xinhua — have been badly neglected when compared with the country’s rapidly multiplying universities. Often criticized for being poorly equipped, they are also poorly managed and have trouble finding qualified teachers, experts say.

“In the vast majority of vocational education schools in China, kids are not learning anything, especially in rural areas,” said Scott Rozelle, director of Stanford University’s Rural Education Action Program, which studies China’s vocational schools. “In studies in central and northwest China, we found dropout rates of 50% in the first two years of these programs.”

Mr. Rozelle said that China’s vocational schools are the only segment of China’s educational system that lacks an evaluation system, so it is difficult to tell which schools are good and which subpar.

China is currently home to 13,600 vocation schools and colleges, which provide a large chunk of the country’s workers in labor-intensive industries. According to government estimates, they are expected to attract more than 38 million students by 2020.

The government is now pushing a number of changes to the vocational school system, including requiring local government to allocate a standard budget for vocational schools as they do for regular colleges, according to Xinhua. Private investors and non-governmental organizations are also encouraged to sponsor vocational schools, and private vocational schools will enjoy preferential loans from banks.

The state-run China Daily newspaper called the government’s recent attention to vocational schools “unprecedented”. But the devil is in the details. It won’t be clear until later how much money local governments will actually budget to upgrading the vocational school system and what kind of incentives there will be to improve.

via A Neglected Problem in China’s Education System – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, Economics, education, employment, graduate, higher education, job shortage, labour shortage, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, Education, Li Keqiang, Vocational education, Vocational school, vocational schools, Xi JinPing

22/05/2014

Serving the People: Chinese Law Student Opens Noodle Shop, Kicks Off Debate – China Real Time Report – WSJ

A Peking University law student who was worried about finding a job and set up a noodle shop last month has become a social media sensation.

Zhang Tianyi has won online praise for his entrepreneurial spirit – though the 24-year-old has attracted heaps of criticism that he is wasting his skills. But his effort has struck a chord with many college graduates who are also finding it hard to land a job.

This week he got an official pat on the back from a senior government official who hailed Mr. Zhang, likening him to hugely successful entrepreneurs like Jack Ma, who founded Alibaba and turned it into an e-commerce powerhouse.

“I’d like to try those noodles,” said Xin Changxing, vice minister of human resources and social security, speaking at a news briefing. “He’s innovating and looking for a market niche.”

In China’s Xinjiang, economic divide seen fuelling ethnic unrest | Reuters

Hundreds of migrant workers from distant corners of China pour daily into the Urumqi South railway station, their first waypoint on a journey carrying them to lucrative work in other parts of the far western Xinjiang region.

Uighur women stand next to a street to wait for a bus in downtown Urumqi, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region May 1, 2014. REUTERS-Petar Kujundzic

Like the columns of police toting rifles and metal riot spears that weave between migrants resting on their luggage, the workers are a fixture at the station, which last week was targeted by a bomb and knife attack the government has blamed on religious extremists.

“We come this far because the wages are good,” Shi Hongjiang, 26, from the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, told Reuters outside the station. “Also, the Uighur population is small. There aren’t enough of them to do the work.”

Shi’s is a common refrain from migrant workers, whose experience finding low-skilled work is very different to that of the Muslim Uighur minority.

Employment discrimination, experts say, along with a demographic shift that many Uighurs feel is diluting their culture, is fuelling resentment that spills over into violent attacks directed at Han Chinese, China’s majority ethnic group.

The apparent suicide attack on the station, which killed one bystander, was the latest violence to hit Xinjiang, despite a pledge from China’s President Xi Jinping to rain “crushing blows against violent terrorist forces”.

via In China’s Xinjiang, economic divide seen fuelling ethnic unrest | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Dissident, Economics, Ethnic clash, Go West, Human rights, Inequalities, Instability, Insurgency, Internal politics, Migrant workers, Politics, self determination, separatism, Separatist, temporary workers, terrorism | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Ürümqi, China, Han Chinese, migrant workers, South railway station, Uighur, Uyghur people, Xi JinPing, Xinjiang

28/04/2014

Labour unrest: Danger zone | The Economist

THE Pearl river delta in the southern province of Guangdong is no stranger to strikes, most of them small and quickly resolved. But a walk-out by workers at factories owned by a Taiwanese company, Yue Yuen, the world’s largest maker of branded sports shoes, including big names such as Nike and Reebok, has been remarkable for its scale and duration. It began on April 5th and has grown to involve tens of thousands of employees. On a sprawling industrial estate, angry workers watched by riot police rage about an issue few cared much about until recently: their pensions. For bosses and officials, this is a worrying sign of change.

The government has imposed a virtual news blackout on the unrest in the city of Dongguan, a place synonymous with the delta’s manufacturing heft (nearly 80% of its 8.3m people have moved there from other parts of China over the past three decades, or are the children of such migrants). Foreign journalists have been allowed onto Yue Yuen’s main estate in Gaobu township, a Dongguan suburb, but strikers complain that Chinese media are kept away. This contrasts with a relatively free rein given to Chinese reporters in 2010 to report on a large strike over pay by workers at a factory owned by Honda in Foshan, another delta city. That incident involved putting pressure on a Japanese company, an uncontroversial target for most Chinese. This latest, bigger strike (one of the largest in years involving a non-state enterprise in China) has touched a more sensitive government nerve.

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Civil service jobs in less demand – China – Chinadaily.com.cn

The number of applicants for civil service jobs has dropped in most places so far this year, according to information released by provincial-level governments.

Sixteen of the 18 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions that released employment information on Thursday saw a decrease in applicants year-on-year.

The number of applicants in Zhejiang province was down 37 percent from 360,000 last year to 227,000 this year, according to the human resources and social security department.

Most other provinces saw a decrease of between 10 and 30 percent this year, the Beijing News reported.

Only Shaanxi province and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region have seen increases in the number of applicants this year.

Meanwhile, 15 provincial-level governments have cut the number of civil service positions available. The number of posts in Zhejiang province, for example, is about 1,500 less than last year.

Civil service jobs have long been deemed ideal for many college graduates. The central authorities, provincial-level governments and city governments respectively recruit civil servants once a year.

In 2013, for example, 1.52 million graduates took the national civil service exam. On average, about 77 applicants competed for each available position. The most desirable posts saw a competitive ratio of 7,192 to 1.

Gu Ruocun, a graduate from Shandong Normal University who works for a private company, said that more than half of his classmates applied for positions in the provincial government last year.

“In my opinion, civil service is a decent job with decent pay,” he said, adding that he is preparing for this year’s application exam after failing a year ago.

Xu Yaotong, a professor of public administration at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said that the central government has begun reforms to streamline public agencies. Local governments will tend to follow suit to decrease the number of new civil posts, Xu said.

The decrease in applicants this year shows that the public has been changing its attitude toward such jobs, he said, adding that it is good news that more young people want to work outside of the government.

via Civil service jobs in less demand – China – Chinadaily.com.cn.

Posted in China alert, civil service, Economics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, Civil service, civil service exam, civil service jobs, civil service positions available, Government, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shandong Normal University, United States, Zhejiang, zhejiang province

26/03/2014

2nd-child policy hurts female job application – China – Chinadaily.com.cn

China has loosened its family planning policy by allowing couples to have a second child if either parent is an only child. Unfortunately, the policy has resulted in discrimination against some married women who are looking for jobs or are already employed, according to the Xinhua News agency.

Xia Fang, a Changsha local who gave birth to her first child 10 months ago, said that during job interviews she is always asked if she is an only child or if she plans to have a second child.

“I don’t plan to have a second child. But when potential employers learn that my first child is a girl, they think I’m likely to have another baby,” said Xia.

Before the second-child policy was introduced, married women with children and work experience had an advantage in the job market, but now they are being confronted with gender discrimination again, Xia added.

Female employees of child-bearing age are being affected, as well. A white collar worker surnamed Liu said she was passed over for a promotion that went to a young man, because her boss thought she might plan to have a second child.

“Women have to work harder to be given equal status in the workplace. And many face pressure from their families to have second children, which can affect their career prospects,” Liu said.

“Companies can predict the cost of a female employee’s maternity leave when they’re allowed to give birth to only one child,” said Li Bin, a professor of sociology at Zhongnan University. “But some middle and small-sized companies can’t bear the costs of two leaves in a few years.”

via 2nd-child policy hurts female job application – China – Chinadaily.com.cn.

Posted in China alert, Economics, employment, Gender issues, One-child policy | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, Changsha, China, family planning policy, Guangzhou, Home, job interviews, Liu, married women, Twitter, Xinhua News Agency

02/03/2014

Chinese Employers Discriminate Against Women Planning to Have Two Children – Businessweek

Late last year, China’s central government announced reforms to the controversial one-child policy—in particular, approving a resolution that would allow couples to have two children if at least one of the parents was an only child. But the change didn’t go into effect instantly; implementation is controlled locally. On Tuesday, Shanghai’s government approved measures to enact the so-called two-child policy, effective March 1. Shanghai is the seventh region in China to adopt guidelines for reforming, not abolishing, the country’s sprawling population-control bureaucracy.

To some extent, the number of children couples can have—and when they can have them—will vary by city. Shanghai’s policies are more liberal than Beijing’s, where new guidelines took hold last Friday. Shanghai parents qualified to have two children can do so regardless of their own ages or the time between births. But Beijing parents with one child must wait until the mother turns 28, or the first child turns 4, before having a second child, as independent newsmagazine Caijing reported.

China’s relaxed birth-control policies also bring unexpected consequences. According to state-run Global Times, some female job applicants are already facing increased hiring discrimination as potential employers appear reluctant to pay for two maternity leaves. “An interviewer asked me if I was going to have two children, and I did not know how to answer,” one young woman in Zhejiang province told the newspaper. “Having children is also making a contribution to society, but they [potential employers] treat us like enemies, which is so unfair.”

via Chinese Employers Discriminate Against Women Planning to Have Two Children – Businessweek.

Posted in China alert, Economics, employment, One-child policy, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, Central government, China, one-child policy, Shanghai, two children, Zhejiang

23/02/2014

China’s Migrant Workers Lack High-End Skills – Businessweek

China is already facing the challenge of a shrinking labor force. Its working age population—16 to 59—declined by more than 2 million people, to about 920 million last year, compared with 2012. And while the total number of migrant workers is still increasing slowly, up 2.4 percent, to 269 million, last year, many lack needed skills. That’s despite the fact that wages keep rising, up about 14 percent, to around 2,600 yuan ($427) a month last year.

“It is difficult to hire general workers, which reflects the limited supply of migrant workers. Despite China upgrading and restructuring its industrial base, there are difficulties in recruiting enough skilled technicians to work in these fields,” said Yang Zhiming, deputy minister of Human Resources and Social Security, at a press conference Thursday in Beijing, reported the Global Times.

China is aiming to shift its economy to higher-value-added industries and lessen its reliance on low-end, low-skill manufacturing of shoes, clothes, and toys, a process officials have dubbed tenglong huanniao, or “clearing the cage and changing the bird.” To meet the skills gap, the government will offer more training programs and educate at least 10 million migrants a year. Beijing intends to provide training by 2020 for the entire “new generation” of migrant workers, or those born after the 1980s, which now number about 100 million, according to Yang.

via China’s Migrant Workers Lack High-End Skills – Businessweek.

Posted in China alert, Economics, employment, labour shortage | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, Labor, migrant worker, migrant workers, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People's Republic of China, Yang

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China Focus: Hukou reforms to help 100 mln Chinese – Xinhua | English.news.cn

Samsung’s China Labor Problems Persist – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Serving the People: Chinese Law Student Opens Noodle Shop, Kicks Off Debate – China Real Time Report – WSJ

In China’s Xinjiang, economic divide seen fuelling ethnic unrest | Reuters

Labour unrest: Danger zone | The Economist

Civil service jobs in less demand – China – Chinadaily.com.cn

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