I can’t count the number of times I have heard people use that old line about how hiring in China must be really easy because, as all newly arrived foreigners will say, ‘For God’s sake, there are 1300 million people!’. Then we all collapse laughing at the irony of our comment, and the naivety of the imagined speaker (which used to be us).

But those 1300 million people have choices, and now they are choosing not to work in just any old job or factory. During the economic crisis workers returned home to the western provinces, and they are now returning only-ever-so-slowly to work in the factories on the east coast.

Forbes’ Shaun Rein has an interesting piece that sheds light on this issue. He concludes that:

Chinese workers’ options are improving and they are becoming more expensive

Younger Chinese are no longer willing to work in factories far from home.

Laborers are now finding work in their home provinces, making them more reluctant to travel to manufacturing hubs like Guangdong.

Female migrant workers are becoming major breadwinners, as they can earn several times more as maids or masseuses than their male counterparts can as construction workers.

More men are choosing to stay at home in the countryside while their wives travel to work in cities.

It has to be said that none of this information is new, in the sense that the trends he identifies are long-term and have been somewhat true for over ten years. The difference is that these trends have accumulated and are now a window on the China market, not just an interesting byproduct of economic success.

To Shaun’s comments I would add:

Both professionals and workers are becoming sufficiently expensive to make companies think twice about locating in China’s East Coast. They will have to automate or relocate.

Firing staff, since the China Labor Law was introduced, is now sufficiently expensive to make companies think twice about locating anywhere in China.

Younger Chinese not only will not work in factories in other faraway cities, they also will not work in factories, or design centres, or sales offices on the other side of their own city. This is a big problem in the 1st Tier cities, where 2-hour commutes are common.

Factories are moving to the west but professionals are still moving to the east. The fact that workers are staying in the west, and will take jobs on lower salaries, is offset by the fact that the professionals will exit your company when they know that you are moving west.

New graduates are still finding it very difficult to find a job. The Expo is soaking up some of the excess but this will be over in 6 months.