More than 160,000 migrant workers in Shenzhen will receive government-subsidized vocational training starting April, city officials said early this week.

The subsidies range from 100 to 800 yuan, confirmed Liu Xionghua, vice chief of the training department of the Shenzhen Municipal Labor and Social Security Bureau.

The subsidy will go to migrant workers in Shenzhen’s four pillar industries, working in areas where there are many migrant workers, such as Bao’an and Longgang districts, and to companies with a high proportion of migrant workers, according to Cai Huanxing, vice chief of the bureau.

Official figures show that 30 percent of the 7 million migrant workers in the city have no more than nine years’ education.

(Shenzhen Daily February 28, 2008)