Xiaobao Village head Yang Qiping has been much busier since the Lunar New Year holiday ended last month.

The village, under Baogong Township of eastern Anhui Province, a major source of China's 130 million rural migrant workers, saw about 2,000 of its residents leave for factories along the coast in recent years.

But the global economic downturn, which is hitting China, has cost more than 600 their jobs. Many returned home as usual for the Spring Festival, which fell on January 26 this year. But this year, many stayed in Xiaobao.

"Now that they're suddenly unemployed, many have come to the village committee office for help. We're also seeing more gambling, stealing and fighting. It's a headache to me," sighed Yang.

With the worsening crisis curbing China's economic growth, some 20 million migrant workers have gone home to rural unemployment since fall, according to government estimates.

The flood of returnees is testing China's grassroots rural officials who -- like the newly jobless they must help -- suddenly face unfamiliar challenges.

New work for labor offices

Labor departments used to be responsible for the urban unemployed only, and their work with migrants mainly involved training, insurance and pay disputes. But since the latter half of last year, helping returnees find new jobs has become a major part of their workload.

Xu Shenghong is the only worker in the labor protection office of Baogong Township. "I'm now responsible for civil dispute settlement, medicare insurance, pensions, migrants' employment and statistics. It's beyond me," he complained.

"The workload has doubled. We're in dire need of more staff," said Cui Meihua, deputy head of the labor protection bureau of Anhui's Feidong County.

"For one thing, we're required to report on a daily basis the number of returnees, which is in itself a very difficult job," said Cui.

Loss of income, land

The returnees' loss of income and ensuing problems are also worrying rural administrators.

In Fengzhuang Village, Dingtao County in eastern Shandong Province, 40-year-old returnee Wang Jin and his wife were heaping dried cotton.

"Cotton prices are low, but fertilizer is very expensive. It's nearly impossible to make money from farming. My children's schooling costs me hundreds of yuan every month, but I have no income whatsoever. Life is hard," said Wang.

Although they might not have the burdens of middle-aged returnees, the younger ones face other problems. Most went into the factories right after they finished junior or senior high school, so they don't have the farming skills that older returnees do. And after years in the city, many of them wouldn't even want to be farmers.

"Their problems will affect their mental state. If not handled properly, this might lead to social instability," Xu observed.

Contradictions have also arisen from farmland transfers. Believing he would work in cities for many years, former migrant Zhu Liujiang in Sichuan Province leased his 5 mu (one mu equals one-fifteenth of a hectare) of land to a neighbor to farm. Now he wants it back, but he's having a dispute over the contract.

Social costs

The mass return has also increased local social spending. In Sichuan, another labor exporter, more than 20,000 children have returned home with their laid-off parents, the provincial labor department said. Finding a place for them in school has placed new pressure on local educational facilities.

The central and local governments are working to address the problems.

Premier Wen Jiabao promised in his government work report, delivered to legislators Thursday in Beijing, that the country would carry out an even more proactive employment policy this year. He said China would allocate 42 billion yuan (US$6.14 billion) to offset unemployment caused by the global downturn.

"We will do everything in our power to stimulate employment," said Wen as he delivered the report at the opening of the National People's Congress (parliament) annual session, singling out university graduates and migrant workers as the top priorities.

Spending on agriculture, farmers and rural areas this year would total 716.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 120.6 billion yuan, he said.

Provinces are stepping up support for the jobless as well. Henan, for example, has a government-subsidized project that will retrain 2 million migrants. It will also offer loans of 1.5 billion yuan to some 100,000 businesses that are expected to employ about 1 million people.

Many provincial education authorities have also sought to ensure that returnees' children have proper schooling. They have allocated funds to expand and renovate rural schools.

Silver lining

Despite the downside of the migrants' return, Chang Kai, director at the School of Labor and Human Resources at Beijing-based Renmin University of China, saw the silver lining.

Chang said the migrants, with years of experience and modern industrial training, would bring home not only funds but also skills and concepts. "These are key attributes for starting businesses," Chang said.

In Xiaobao Village, four businesses have been started by the migrants by the end of last year, each employing dozens of other returnees.

"A job near my home is good, as I can also take care of my family at off hours," said newly-reemployed Shao Xiaohua. "It's even better than going afar to other places."

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2009)