Five million migrant workers start businesses back in hometown
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-01 14:45
Five million of China's 120 million farmers seeking jobs in urban areas have
returned to their homes and started their own businesses, according to
statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture.
The returning workers have set up one-fifth of the country's rural
enterprises, boosting rural economic growth and creating jobs, said sources with
the ministry.
Statistics show the five million new business owners employ 30 million
people, each of whom earns 5,000 yuan (625 US dollars) a year in addition to
their farming incomes.
Returned workers usually enter the processing industry, making use of the
resources in their hometowns with skills they have acquired in cities, providing
an impetus to agricultural restructuring.
A ministry spokesman cited the case of Luo Zhiqi, from Shiban Village,
Southwest China's Guizhou province, who invested 30,000 yuan (3,750 US dollars)
in a brickyard in his hometown after returning from South China's island
province of Hainan, where he had been a migrant worker.
Luo's factory produced bricks worth 1.2 million yuan (150,000 US dollars)
last year, with profits of 200,000 yuan (25,000 US dollars).
Analysts say the government should help returned workers start their own
businesses with easier access to bank loans and training. (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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