Economy

Zhejiang facing worst labor shortage in 7 yrs

By Zhang Jiawei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-02-27 17:15
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East China's Zhejiang province is facing the most severe labor shortage since 2003, with an average of 383 jobs for every 100 registered job seekers after the Spring Festival, the local Hangzhou Daily newspaper said Saturday citing the province's human resource department.

The province's labor needs are expected to increase by 20 to 30 percent over last year as its economy is rebounding strongly. Supply of workers is down because the labor-rich provinces in China's central and western regions retained people who used to go work in the southeastern coastal regions as their economy develops fast, the newspaper reported.

To fix this, the province plans to train and use local workforces and to recruit workers from other provinces, the newspaper said.

The province plans to send four groups to the country's labor-rich provinces to recruit workers. Some enterprises will join the groups, according to the newspaper.