Factories struggle to keep skilled workers

Hong Kong businessman Ronnie Cheung squirms as he watches an army of migrant workers queuing in front of Shenzhen's train station, waiting to buy tickets home for the Lunar New Year.

'I wonder if any of my workers are there. I just hope I will get all of them back when the holiday is over,' said Mr Cheung, owner of a Shenzhen jewellery workshop.

Factory managers across the Pearl River Delta share the same concerns around this time every year as hundreds of thousands of migrant workers pack up and head home. When the Lunar New Year holiday is over, 10 to 20 per cent of them - usually the most experienced and skilled employees - will probably not reappear.

The delta has been plagued by a labour shortage in recent years, despite repeated promises by the government that it will solve the problem. Various studies estimate there will be a shortfall of between 2 million to 2.5 million workers in the delta this year.

'This year there will be about 3.4 million new jobs created in Guangdong, but our local schools can supply only 1.4 million new labourers,' said Lu Zhiguo , an economics professor in Shenzhen who specialises in labour issues. 'Two kinds of workers will be particularly hard to find: skilled ones and those who have to perform dangerous or dirty duties.'

According to a study by Professor Lu, there will be 3.2 job vacancies for every skilled technician or worker with specialised skills in the delta this year. Many factories are struggling to retain experienced staff and fighting hard in the market to recruit new ones.