A dozen men crowded around an employment agent in the early morning in suburban Shanghai, waving their ID cards as they fought to secure a 12-hour shift at a warehouse.
“We need strong people,” the agent told the group, warning that temperatures were high inside the warehouse due to the summer weather.
The men were some of thousands of domestic migrant workers in the Chinese metropolis who eked out a living day after day, competing for dwindling jobs in factories and construction sites in a slowing economy.
China’s top policymakers – including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang – are gathering this week for an important meeting, with the country’s economic problems high on the agenda.
Outside the employment agency, 34-year-old Shen Peng from north China’s Shaanxi province said he had been looking for work for 10 days with no luck.
“I want a job at the factory,” he told AFP, saying that so far he has only been offered hard physical work for low wages.
Shen, a single father and former restaurant cook, is his family’s sole breadwinner.
“(My son’s) mother got sick and passed away, so this is something I owe my son… I need to at least find something with a higher income,” Shen told AFP.
Recently returned to Shanghai after three years at home in Shaanxi, Shen is paying 40 yuan ($5.50) a night for a small, air-conditioned room in a guesthouse and considers himself lucky compared with others who pay less for shared rooms equipped with just a fan.
– ‘I’ve done everything’ –
The current dearth of job opportunities is in stark contrast to Shen’s experience when he first came to Shanghai in 2017.
At that time, there were many jobs to choose from and he worked at a factory owned by Taiwan-based Quanta Computer, earning up to 8,000 yuan a month with accommodation and meals provided by his employer.
Now, he says, hiring agents fill coveted factory roles more selectively.
“In the past, there were no limits as long as you knew the 26 letters of the English alphabet,” he told AFP, adding that hiring agents now turned away even people who appeared overweight for fear they were unsuitable for the job. .
Shen Chunping, a native of Anhui with no relation to Shen Peng, had better luck at the employment agency last Tuesday.
He was selected for a temporary position as a dishwasher at a restaurant, paying 112 yuan a day.
Getting the job was a great relief for Shen Chunping, who was unable to find work in May and June.
“I’m short and I don’t have much education, I only went to high school, so now I’m taking any job I can get,” he told AFP.
“I did everything, delivering packages, security work, delivering food, I did it all,” said Shen Chunping.
“This year there are more people (looking for work) and they cannot find a job,” he told AFP.
– Shanghai Dreams –
Outside an unassuming residential complex near the employment agency, about a hundred people were gathered in an informal roadside labor exchange before dawn last Tuesday.
Many held shovels, waiting for employers to select them for construction work.
Workers who had been there since 3 a.m. chatted with familiar faces between bites of fried bread sold at a nearby breakfast stand.
“This year is a little worse compared to last year. Shanghai’s development has reached a limit,” Shao Tongfang, from Anhui province, who was waiting for a job, told AFP.
Shao said he has been seeking his fortune in the wealthy Chinese city for 20 years.
He plans to return to farming in his hometown “in a few years when I can no longer stay in this place.”
“I can’t do this in my hometown,” said Mei Buqin, another worker from Anhui, when asked why he chose to look for work in Shanghai.
As the sun rose, one of the luckiest job seekers told AFP he was going to work.
Smiling, the man hopped on the back of a scooter driven by his new employer and they headed into town.
tjx/je/cwl
