Reuters reports that how the financial crisis affects workers after many exporter factories are closed down.
Like tens of millions of young Chinese before her, Yu Juan left China’s hinterland for factory work near the coast four years ago with the dream of getting rich.
An acquaintance from her hometown of Dazhou in Sichuan province told her about an exporter in Dongguan, an hour-and-a-half north of Hong Kong, that was hiring.
The Hejun Toy Factory was large, Hong Kong-owned and paid well and on time. It also had an imprimatur that Yu and others working there thought was a virtual guarantee of job security: a stock code.
See an old CDT post on the impact on exporters and suggested actions to minimise losses.
Please also read: 1,500 jobless as another China factory shuts: Report on the India Times:
Hong Kong-listed appliance maker shut its southern China factory on Monday, state media reported, making it the latest victim of the world economic slowdown’s impact on Chinese manufacturing.
The closure of Bailingda Industrial Co.’s electrical appliance factory in the export hub of Shenzhen has left 1,500 employees jobless, Xinhua news agency reported. It follows the failure on Friday of another Hong Kong-listed firm, toymaker Smart Union, which shut its factory in the nearby city of Dongguan in Guangdong province, throwing about 7,000 out of work.
The situation has highlighted the growing risk of instability in China’s coastal manufacturing hubs as factories face financial difficulties leading to large-scale layoffs. Xinhua said more than 1,000 of the laid-off Bailingda employees had gathered outside the factory on Sunday, demanding government intervention to secure unpaid wages. The report made no mention of any disturbances.
