'Closer to home' becomes mantra for former migrant workers

HEFEI — On an early morning shortly after Spring Festival, about 100 local companies gathered in a public square in Fuyang city, Anhui province, to recruit employees.

"I saw information about the recruitment drive on my community social media group. I want to find a job close to home because I have two children to look after," said Liu Lei, 43, who used to work as an electric welder in the coastal province of Zhejiang.

With a population of 10.8 million, Fuyang is a major source of migrant workers.

Roughly 3.8 million, or more than one-third of its population, work across the country all year round.

However, an increasing number of residents like Liu are looking to work closer to home for two main reasons.

First, the average local income has risen — although there is still a gap with more developed regions along the coast — and second, many middle-aged workers have to take care of their elderly parents and young children at home.

There are many job seekers who want to stay and work in the area, said Wang Fang, who works at the human resource department at BYD, a leading car manufacturer. Four of the company's business divisions attended the job fair, with the aim of hiring 1,000 workers for its new factory in the provincial capital, Hefei.

Working near home is a rising trend among increasing numbers of migrant workers.

Some have decided to return to their hometowns to start businesses after making enough money and gaining experience working elsewhere. The new companies absorb surplus rural laborers, raising local incomes.

Fuyang has taken a series of measures to encourage and support the desire of residents to return to work or become entrepreneurs.

In 2020, an entrepreneurship park was launched in the city's economic development zone, providing low-cost operating sites to returnee entrepreneurs.

It is like an incubator and offers legal and financial services and human resources support, said Li Dandan, director of the park's operations.

A year later, businessman Yu Liang, 38, founded a clothing company in the park that employs around 50 workers. The factory has since expanded from 3,000 square meters to 10,000 sq m, thanks to growth.

"It only takes about 20 minutes for me to get to the factory from home by e-bike. I can make 5,000 yuan ($740) a month, just a bit less than working in more developed areas. But I can spend more time with my family," said 43-year-old Yang Ping.

Several of her neighbors who previously worked outside Anhui have also applied to work in the factory this year, she added.

Over the past 16 years, more than 63,500 people have returned to Fuyang and set up their own businesses, creating 482,000 jobs.

Fuyang's returnees are indicative of a larger trend in Anhui. The number of rural migrant workers with jobs inside the province increased from 8.4 million in 2013 to 11.7 million in 2021, data from the Department of Human Resources and Social Security of Anhui Province showed.

A similar situation can be seen in Baimao township, where a group of companies is benefiting from the upsurge in people willing to work close to home. In a local shoe factory, dozens of automatic sewing machines are running full tilt. Orders have soared since Spring Festival, but the pressure has been greatly eased thanks to returnee workers, said Wu Canwen, who works in the company's administrative department.

Xinhua