China is not Free of the Current Economic Crisis

Soch Mel

In Guangzhou China many migrant workers are returning back to city ending their Chinese New Years celebration early out of fear that they many not have any jobs to return back too. Reported last Thursday the 5th about 3 million migrants out of a total 9.7 million had already return back to the urban centers. China in not recession proof as much as the government would like to think it is. Currently the government released data from a survey at estimates about 20 million Chinese Migrant workers are unemployed out of 130 million migrant workers total. About 10 million of these migrant workers lost their jobs during the third quarter as the crisis was unfolding and many factories closing.

To help combat this problem, the Prime Minister of mainland China Wen Jiabao hinted that the government will pursue a $585 economic stimulus plan to help smooth out the situation. This is just a little bit ironic to me as that is what we are trying to do too and now for roughly the same amount.

Still many factories are closing, or in the case of a factory in the city of Dongguan, right next to Guangzhou, reopening are delayed because there is a lack of demand for cheap Chinese good. One company owner stated that he has not seen this kind of situation since the early 1990s when China was slowly beginning to rise economically.

There have been small protest related to work by laborers, but many, including the government, are fearing that there could be record mass protest this year compared to last year and before. The rising tension and unhappiness is placing the government on alert as they are increasing security presence in all public places. Loud speakers are telling them not to litter, move quickly, not sit or squat which to us is just a bit funny but serious to the Chinese government.

Another issue is where will many of these migrant workers sleep? Many of the factories provided a place to rest for their employees, but the dorms had to be shut down because of the current economic situation. This could be a very scary image.

If we are to help each other get out of this situation, we need to increase non-essential spending up a bit so that capital continues to flow and that people can work and make a living. As bad as we may have it, these migrant workers have it really bad. This recession will most likely be here for a while, we need to coup and spend just enough so that every industry doesn't shut down.