To curb Lunar New Year economic lull, Shanghai hires planes, trains and automobiles to bring workers back
- The weeklong holiday makes it more difficult to maintain production levels as cities and provinces are being hard-pressed to rev up China’s economic engine
- China’s prominent manufacturing hubs are fiercely competing to attract labour resources during the country’s most important annual festival
Shanghai is looking to maintain uninterrupted production and kick-start economic growth by organising chartered transport to bring workers back from other provinces during the ongoing Lunar New Year holiday.
On the fourth day of the week-long holiday on Tuesday, the Shanghai municipal government chartered a plane to transport more than 30 workers from Yunnan province, according to Yicai, a Shanghai-based business and financial media outlet.
It plans to bring 20 more batches of workers from various provinces and cities through chartered “point-to-point” planes, trains and buses, according to the report.
The Shanghai Human Resources and Social Security Bureau had already initiated recruitment campaigns and negotiated chartered transport services with local governments in key labour-exporting provinces in late December.
“We found that many workers were already seeking jobs ahead of the holiday, some would return to Shanghai to fill in high-demand roles such as housekeeping and catering during the festival. Meanwhile, frontline positions in enterprises may experience temporary shortages due to the long holiday,” bureau director Yang Jiaying said.
