Authorities plan to increase vocational training in rural areas to assist migrant workers forced to return home in a souring economy. Bloomberg reports:
China aims to provide as many as 90 million continuing training courses for adults, many of them related to rural skills transfers and techniques, the education ministry said today in a statement on China’s central government Web site.
A cooling economy is forcing companies to cut jobs and as many as 20 million rural residents who had moved to cities to work may have return home this year, economists estimate. China’s manufacturing contracted for a fifth month in December as recessions in the U.S., Europe and Japan slowed demand for exports, the CLSA China Purchasing Managers’ Index said.
“There’s a need to actively promote vocational training, vigorously develop adult education and distance learning for urban and rural workers,” the statement said. There’s a need “to further strengthen and develop skill training for farmers.”
