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Farmers trained they seek jobs in Shandong
By Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-10-21 00:46
East China's Shandong Province is taking every measure possible to help
ensure farmers a smooth transfer to urban areas as limited farm land has forced
1 million rural labourers to find jobs in cities each year.
"The new development trend demands high quality labour forces. The province
will launch systematic job training for the future rural labour force transfer,
and intensify organization for the change," said Zhan Shuyi, director of the
Shandong Agriculture Department.
"High quality rural workers will ensure a smooth transfer to urban areas,"
Zhan said.
Currently 80 per cent of rural labour forces in Shandong have only a middle
school education, and only 10 per cent have any technical training.
Low education level is the major challenge for the rural migrants searching
for jobs in cities, where employment is already a problem due to the
readjustment of industrial structures and economic reforms have pushed many
urban residents out of work.
Fortunately the situation is turning around in some parts of the province.
In Zhuzhuang Village of Gaotang County in Shandong, farmers are taking
nightly long-distance courses via the Internet. Organized by the local
government, night classes have greatly opened farmers' eyes to various kinds of
knowledge.
To date Shandong has set up more than 2,200 terminal inception stations in
rural areas for long-distance courses, which are expected to help boost rural
workers' quality.
Shandong has a population of more than 91 million, with more than 60 million
in rural areas.
"The surplus of rural workers transferring from fields to factories, from
rural to urban areas, will finally make Shandong strong and rich," said Zhan.
Since the late 1990s it has become gradually more difficult for grain
producers to increase their income through agriculture.
In Shandong the population of annual transferring rural workers grew from
400,000 in 1997 to 1 million in recent years.
The average land per capita of China is merely one-third of that in the
world.
Experts say the very low average land occupation of Shandong has severely
restricted land output rate and farmers' productivity.
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