Labor industry heads inland

• Source: Global Times
• [01:39 June 29 2010]
• Comments

Wu Jiaxiang, a senior researcher at the China Society of Economic Reform, believes that the relocation of labor-intensive manufacturers from coastal regions to cheaper inland cities is not an indication of the start of an overall industrial reform.

"Despite the Chinese government putting efforts into adjusting the structure of industries, China is still a labor-intensive country," he said.

Increasingly rising costs prompted the Taiwanese company to relocate production lines to inland cities as early as 2006, the website of the China Business Journal reported Monday.

The official website of Foxconn says that it built a plant in Tianjin Municipality in 2006, a plant in Hebei Province in 2007, and two separate plants in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces in 2008.

Ten workers have killed themselves and three have attempted suicide by jumping from buildings at Foxconn's Shenzhen plants this year. A Foxconn worker at the Langfang plant also killed himself this year.

And some workers across the country seeking higher wages have increased their salaries by staging walkouts. Tokyo-based Honda Motors, for instance, announced raise 24 percent increase in pay for its Chinese workers after three strikes.

Meanwhile, authorities are also helping push up minimum wages. Seven Chinese provinces raised their levels in the first quarter, according to the labor ministry.

Kang Juan and Liu Linlin contributed to this story