Reporters' Log

Economic downturn affecting poverty-stricken regions

By Li Weitao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-06 10:53

The effect of the global economic crisis has spilled over to China's poverty-stricken regions, which could pose a big challenge for the government, a senior government official said on Friday.

By the end of last year, about 15.3 percent of migrant workers in the country returned to their hometowns ahead of schedule, Fan Xiaojian, vice minister of agriculture and director of the Office for Poverty Alleviation and Development(OPAD) under the State Council, was cited by Xinhua News Agency as saying.

An investigation by the OPAD found that in some regions of Hubei province, more than 30 percent of migrant workers have returned to their hometowns after losing their jobs, Fan said at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Many peasants in China have swarmed to cities to find jobs in the past few years. But many Chinese exporters have seen their orders drop significantly due to the global economic downturn. Factory closures in the coastal regions have forced many migrant workers to return to their hometowns for farming.

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