Unemployment may be deteriorating quickly in the US, but 20 million unemployed in one region alone should be enough to keep Beijing awake at night. There is a great fear in Europe about social unrest (which seems a bit over-played) but for China, the government is understating the problem. The government needs answers quickly if they want to maintain their lofty positions of power.
Scarce jobs, falling wages, sputtering assembly lines and labor scams are some of the rising problems faced by millions of Chinese migrant workers struggling to weather the downturn in export hubs like Guangdong.
Twenty million workers have lost their jobs in Guangdong alone as economic growth has slumped, but flareups of social unrest have not materialized since workers began returning en masse in early February from the Chinese New Year holiday.
Migrants are focused on economic survival -- scouring factory towns for jobs, lowering expectations, living frugally and awaiting an easing of the deep export slump that has shuttered thousands of factories as the global economic crisis worsens.
"It's not long after the Chinese New Year, so many workers are still busy looking for work. Only if they fail to find work over the next few weeks and months might we see more strain," said Liu Dejun, a labor rights activist based in Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong.
But in typical Chinese factory towns like Changping, around three hours drive from Hong Kong, the strains are building.
