BEIJING - The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said Monday that 585,200 unpaid migrant workers had received their wages as of January 13, due to China's intensified efforts to crack down on malicious wage default.

The ministry's inspection teams visited 162,500 companies in 15 provinces, including Guangdong, Yunnan and Hunan, and found migrant workers in 14,000 companies had not been paid on time. Their unpaid wages totaled 1.91 billion yuan (303.17 million U.S. dollars).

Inspection teams ordered the companies to pay overdue wages and compensation to workers, totaling 1.95 billion yuan.

In December, the country launched inspections of migrant workers' wage payment in order to ensure that they would be paid in full and on time, the ministry said.