Unemployed Qin Zhongli stands in front of a vacancy billboard at a job market in northeast China's Shenyang City.

An experienced chef, Qin, 35, earned 2,000 yuan (US$290) a month last year -- a decent living for his wife, daughter and son back in his village in the eastern province of Shandong, 1,000km away.

"I don't know what to do. It's the worst time in my life," he mumbles in the chilly breeze.

In the Luyuan Job Market, one of the largest in northeast China, in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province, Qin is one of thousands of migrant farmer workers who come looking for work everyday.

Previously, the priority of the migrant workers' union, which set up the billboard in the market, was to help workers settle wage disputes.

"Now the problem is not payment defaults. It's unemployment," says Zhang Xuedong, head of the union branch.

The billboard has vacancies for chefs, most offering less than 1,200 yuan per month. Qin says it's not enough to support his family.

Tight market

China is being squeezed by the global credit crunch and economic contraction. In southern Guandong Province alone, more than 2,400 companies closed their doors last year.

The central government estimates 20 million migrant workers have lost their jobs and returned home.

From the southern exporting towns and cities, the crisis quickly spread north, where the labor market has tightened.

After Qin went home to see his family during the Spring Festival, the most important Chinese holiday, he returned to Shenyang to be told he had been replaced by someone who was paid much less.

"I had thought it wouldn't be so hard to find a job, but times have changed," he says.

About 3,000 farmers and skilled workers had come to the Luyuan job market since February 2, Zhang Xuedong said.

In past years, most job seekers waited till the traditional Chinese Lantern Festival, which marks the end of Lunar New Year celebrations and fell on February 9 this year, to look for work.

The atmosphere in the market started to change last October, Zhang says.

"In good times, the parking lot was filled with cars. Nowadays, less than a quarter of the lot is occupied," she says.

Laborers sometimes search for weeks without a result. Many live in ramshackle buildings around the market so they can come early everyday.

Property owners in the neighborhood have prospered by setting up dormitories and renting beds to laborers at 10 yuan per night.

Chen Qingliang, 48, a local welder, has not worked since November. "Anything will do," he says.

Help at hand, but more needed

The migrant workers union gives each worker a tag. It states their vocation on one side, and the other has a phone number for labor disputes.

"We give out the tags free," Zhang says. "We even write the vocations for those who can't read or write."

Zhang tells her staff to go through newspaper classified ads everyday. "We note the requirements and information, and put them on the billboard." Zhang also calls acquaintances to ask if they need workers.

As unemployment rises, salaries fall. Qin says he could have earned 1,500 yuan a month as a chef back in Shandong Province. He left his family to work in Shenyang because it paid more. But now, it pays just 1,200 yuan.

Zhang estimates employers have cut salaries for laborers by 20 percent, which is unacceptable for many job-seekers.

After years of urban life, many migrant workers are no longer willing to return to farming. Having worked in restaurants for a decade, Qin says he can't be a farmer anymore -- cooking is more respectable.

Another chef from Henan Province, who declines to give his name, says his farm has long been rented out, and he has worked in the city for more than 10 years. "What can I do in my village?"

The government of Liaoning Province last month announced that migrant workers were eligible for small loans of 30,000 to 50,000 yuan if they want to start their own businesses.

About 1.5 million people in Liaoning, including 700,000 rural migrants, have received free training since 2005 -- and more than 60 percent of them have found jobs, says Wang Chenxin, assistant director of the Liaoning Provincial Labor and Social Security Department.

South China's Guangzhou City, a major destination for migrant farmer workers, plans to extend online job interviews to farmers to a further 55 administrative districts nationwide this year.

The plan was unveiled last week, days after the provincial legislature approved plans for a channel targeting migrant workers on local TV station to tell them about job vacancies and job training.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2009)