Guangzhou Extends Aid for Migrant Workers

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Feb. 27 – Guangzhou City government plans to extend aid to unemployed migrant workers by offering online job interviews and opening a local television channel for job vacancies and training.

The capital of Guangdong Province, the city is a top destination for migrant workers.

While the government already has a job interview system in place since 2003, it will extend its coverage from 45 administrative districts to 55. “Internet job interviews can also be held,” Zhao Baoying, director of Guangzhou Human Resources Market Service Center told Xinhua. “The system can save the job-seeking migrant workers from much travel.”

Companies seeking employees can submit recruitment information to the system’s database. China’s export industry has been severely affected by the global economic crisis as international export markets cut back on demand. This has forced many factories to shut down and lay-off workers.

Overall, an estimated 20 million migrant workers have been forced to go back to the countryside without jobs. According to Xinhua, in Guangdong Province alone,  an estimated 600,000 migrant workers were laid-off.

Guangdong provincial human resources and social security department forecasts that 2.6 million migrant workers coming from outside the province would arrive to seek employment during the first quarter of the year.