Jobless Chinese migrant workers have shown up in huge numbers at job fairs across the country, even during the Spring Festival, eager to secure work in a tight market.

Zhang Yuancheng, a farmer turned electrician from the central Hubei Province, was among the estimated 20 million migrant workers who lost their jobs ahead of the holidays as the global economic crisis affected China's economy.

"I am afraid I'd have little chance if I started looking late, "said Zhang at the Tiantian Job Market in Shanghai, China's financial hub.

Zhang arrived in the city on January 28, the third day of the Lunar New Year, when most migrant workers were still enjoying their holidays. He's been offered a job but is hoping for something better.

Job fairs are the first place migrant workers go to seek employment as mechanics, drivers and sales staff. Such fairs usually start after the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year and traditionally marks the end of the annual holiday.

But this year, in response to the early return of many jobless migrant workers, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing held job fairs early.

The Tiantian market in Shanghai didn't close at all for the holidays so it could accommodate job seekers.

Beijing's first job fair this year opened on Monday at the Yonghegong Job Market. The market said a large job fair will be held later this month and smaller ones every week.

As employment chances have diminished in big cities, many job seekers have decided to take a chance on finding work in smaller cities. One such fair on Monday, in Wuhu City, east China's Anhui Province, drew more than 30,000 job-seekers competing for 13,000 vacancies.

In Ganzhou City in the eastern Jiangxi Province, a government-sponsored fair held after the Spring Festival had 30,000 jobs to fill. But that was far from enough to help 400,000 local residents who returned home after losing their jobs in cities.

Wang Jiazhen, a labor official in Pudong District, Shanghai, said the government would sponsor more job fairs for unemployed rural laborers. He said the district would also arrange another 12job fairs for college graduates after the winter school break.

The district government has 18,000 jobs to fill at 1,800 companies, which is "comparatively low compared with previous years," said Wang.

With companies under pressure from the financial crisis, major exporters of migrant workers should help ease the employment pressure in big cities, said Zhou Haiwang, deputy head of the Research Institute on Population and Development under the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

He said labor-exporting provinces should create jobs and training for migrant workers, which would upgrade local manufacturing industries and workers' skills.