Heilongjiang farmers shift to manufacturing sectors
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-11-24 21:48

Well into an economic transition, Heilongjiang in Northeast China, a major farming province, will see at least 3.5 million farmers move to manufacturing sector jobs this year alone.

More than half of the province's 9 million farmer are expected to take advantage of government aid to flow into other industries.

For its part, the province is looking for more ways to ensure an income for surplus rural labourers. One major option is to train farmers with skills the market needs.

Statistics from the Heilongjiang Provincial Agricultural Commission show that until the end of October, the province transferred almost 3.41 million rural workers out of farming. An increase of 40 per cent over the same period last year.

The province abounds in rural labour resources.

Since it is a main grain production base, agriculture plays an important role in Heilongjiang.

Of the 9 million farmers there, 4.6 million could work across the country or abroad.

Unlike farmers in most of southern China, farmers in the northeast usually sow only once a year, in the spring, because of the cold climate.

During the cold winter, they remain idle.

At the same time, mechanization has made vast numbers of farm workers redundant.

"By transferring the surplus labourers to other industries, we aim to create more opportunities to increase their income," said Jia Lebin from the Heilongjiang Provincial Labour and Social Security Bureau.

"They would not live just from the farmland. They can also find jobs to make some money," he said.

"But what they lack are skills to meet the job requirements. They need to be trained."

By the end of October, nearly 440,000 rural labourers had received vocational trainings and most of them had made a successful transfer.

"Our labour supply used to feature physical workers," said Men Xianjun, director of the employment centre under the bureau.

"They encountered fierce competition from other provinces and usually had lower wages."

"Vocational training will sharpen their competitiveness and help them earn a higher pay," he said.

"And they are encouraged to come back to Heilongjiang to start their own businesses after they gain experience and accumulate some money in more developed areas," he said.

Many areas of the province have specialized in specific types of labour, for example, electric welding workers from Anda, security personnel from Hegang, housekeepers from Yi'an and taxi drivers from Qiqihar.

This is because many local governments made contact with places that are thirsty for labourers and conducted a survey on the labour demand situation.

Then these areas started to train their own rural labourers according to the demand and their own conditions, notably Anda, which has set up more than 170 vocational training programmes and helped nearly 15,000 rural labourers find jobs.

"We strengthened our co-operation with other provinces in sharing employment information," Jia said.

"Thus we could train our rural labourers according to the demand on the labour market."

The province has established long-term employment contracts with many cities in the country, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, which have a huge demand for labourers.

This year, labour departments throughout the province supplied more than 1.3 million rural workers nationwide and abroad.

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