China Watch Blog

China Watch Blog reports that many as many employees in south China have not returned to work after the nation’s Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, jobs at businesses in Guangdong, ranging from restaurants and toy makers to other manufacturing companies, have gone abegging due to the massive labor shortage.

As of Jan 30, some 3.2 million migrant workers had returned to Guangdong, the China Daily reported, citing sources at the provincial human resources and social security authorities on Thursday.

The authorities had predicted that as many as 9.8 million workers would return after the week-long holiday. By Thursday, only 60 percent of the companies based in the province had resumed business after the festival.

In Foshan, a major manufacturing city in the Pearl River Delta area, a growing number of factories were still affected by the labor shortage, although the overall demand for migrant workers has fallen this year.

The local labor authorities forecast that the city needs 200,000 more workers this year, but at least 85,000 workers have still not returned after the festival.

“Some migrant workers have not returned because they have better job options in their hometowns, which offer wages almost as high as those in the Pearl River Delta,” said Zhang Baoying, director of Guangzhou Human Resources Market Center.

Ma Xiujuan, a migrant worker from Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, plans to go home to look for a job after visiting a job fair in Guangzhou on Tuesday.

“Most companies here offer a salary of between 2,000 yuan ($317) and 3,000 yuan a month, which is even lower than those offered in my hometown,” she said.

“Factories in the delta area are expected to attract more workers by raising wages,” said Peng Peng, a senior researcher with Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences.

Sources with the Guangdong human resources and social security authorities said the minimum wage in the province will be raised by 13 percent this year.

“But raising wages is far from enough to keep more workers. Authorities should introduce more measures to improve the welfare of migrant workers and promote equal treatment in education, healthcare and housing,” Peng said.

He mainly attributed the labor shortage in the delta area to sluggish profits and industrial adjustment.

“Many businesses, especially small- and medium-sized companies dare not raise the wages because of rising production costs and slower business growth,” said Peng.

The profits of Chinese industrial companies increased at a slower pace in 2011 as the European debt crisis threatened the nation’s exports, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on its website on Friday.

Net profits for the year only rose by 25.4 percent year-on-year from 2010 to 5.45 trillion yuan, the NBS said. The growth rate rebounded from 24.4 percent in the first 11 months of last year.

But it marked a gradual downshift from growth of 32 percent year-on-year seen during the first quarter, 28.7 percent during the first half, and 27 percent in the first three quarters.

The authorities have introduced a series of measures to ensure funding for key investment and to boost credit in the economy, especially for small- and medium-sized businesses, to help sustain growth.

China Watch Blog wishes to remind readers that GCTL Insights Magazine Issue#11 & 12 has been published at our website GCTL8.com.

Get your FREE PDF copy now…Just go to our homepage and register for a free email newsletter and once you get the confirmation from our server, you can access our website to download the magazine, that is, if you are not already a member of GCTL8.com.

We are an environmentally friendly company and so we print only limited copies for paid subscribers and distribute hard copies at conferences and exhibition events for promotion purposes.

We have great exclusive stories in this issue including a look at the warehousing situation in China via Gazeley one of the leading warehousing developers in the mainland.

Also we have interviews with HACTL in Hong Kong as well as China Eastern Logistics – a rare interview with the ground handler with some comments from PACTL as well.

China Watch Blog has learnt that Jackie Carpenter never thought she would be an author; mother, businesswoman, volunteer, yes – but not author – and especially one whose book would be made into a movie! But in 2008 that all changed when she was faced with an event no parent should have to go through – a tragedy so devastating she wasn’t sure she would be able to survive it.

Jackie wrote The Bridge: Between Cell Block A and a Miracle is Psalm 91 (Xulon Publishing) to tell the story of how drastically her life changed the day her son apprehended thieves who had repeatedly been stealing copper from his work site. On the advice of a deputy, he was armed and trying to keep the men on the premises until the police arrived when the gun accidentally fired, killing one of the men.

Up to this point, Jackie’s life had been picture perfect – a wonderful husband, good health, two married sons and four beautiful grandchildren. But the day she received a frantic call from her son’s wife telling her he had been arrested for felony murder, the bottom fell out of her world. In addition, her son faced four other serious charges and the deputy recanted the advice he had given him.

Jackie had clung to Psalm 91 throughout the trial, praying to God every day for a miracle. She had even defied advice from her son’s attorney suggesting she not bring her Bible to the courtroom ‘lest she offend a juror.’ Knowing that God was the only one who could grant her a miracle, there was no way she would chance offending Him, so that Bible was with her every day of her ten-month journey through Hell to that glorious day in April 2009 when Jackie heard the jury’s verdict of ‘not guilty!’

While The Bridge tells the powerful story of a mother’s love and how she bridged the gap between Cell Block A and a miracle, the sequel Georgia Justice: A Story To Faith, tells the heart-rending story of the fear she felt when she realized her faith did not even begin to measure up to where it needed to be when tragedy struck. It is a powerful testimony to the spiritual strength this small-town girl found in the promises of Psalm 91 and what she did to build up her faith during the agonizing time that led up to her son’s trial. It is a book that Jackie hopes will be a resource for anyone facing a crisis in their life.

Jackie’s dramatic story is being made into a motion picture that will begin production next month. Georgia Justice (by the producers of Courageous) starring Francine Locke, is scheduled to be released in the fall and depicts Jackie’s terrifying journey from the day her son was arrested to the day of his acquittal, and how her faith brought her to victory. For more information on the movie please visit www.georgiajusticemovie.com.

Jackie Carpenter has been a featured guest on television, radio, and in newspaper articles.

China Watch Blog has learnt that security in the USA is a huge issue; on a national level, and for corporations, prisons and individuals alike. This is where Berkeley Varitronics Systems comes in – a leading provider of advanced wireless solutions and security products to the domestic and international wireless telecommunications industry.

CEO Scott Schober is a sought-after security expert who made a presentation at the inaugural Concordia Summit in New York City recently to top level political decision-makers from around the world that included Mikheil Saakashvili – President of Georgia, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, former President George W. Bush, and Thomas Kean, former Governor of New Jersey.

Schober’s security team was part of the 9/11 first-responders who attempted to locate people buried under the rubble by locating their cell phones. BVS products can be used to detect anything – from people illegally crossing our borders, bomb threats, detecting smuggled cell phones in prisons, to protecting board room secrets of corporate America.

Berkeley Varitronics Wolfhound-Pro cell phone detector has been featured on Fox News. It is a precision, handheld, wireless sniffer specifically tuned to the RF signature of common cell phones for both U.S. and European bands and its high speed scanning receiver allows security personnel to locate nearby cell phones in either standby mode or during active voice, text or data transmissions. Instead of illegal and unsafe cellular jamming signals, this detector prevents wireless usage by detecting and even locating the perpetrator.

This product is vital in prisons where keeping cell phones out is becoming a major problem across the country, but especially in California where state prisoners are being bumped into local jails. Prisoners having access to cell phones is always a serious safety concern, but more so with gang members who use them to contact outside members, intimidate witnesses, or conduct criminal activity from inside prison walls. Cell phones can also be used to relay information on transportation of inmates, by giving date, time and route.

Berkeley Varitronics Systems are featured at all major security events. They were recently a featured company at the 4G World Conference in Chicago, where attendees were offered an opportunity to meet their guest spokesperson, Los Angeles Lakers star Andrew Goudelock. (Please see: http://shar.es/bwbZK) They also recently made a presentation at the Chiefs of Police Conference in Kansas where they demonstrated the latest in cell phone detection devices.

Located in Metuchen, NJ, Berkeley Varitronics Systems has been providing advanced wireless solutions and products to the domestic and international wireless telecommunications industry for over 38 years.