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AFP

Casual workers seek increasingly scarce pre-dawn jobs on Shanghai’s outskirts

About a dozen men crowded around an employment agent early in the morning on the outskirts of Shanghai, flashing their identification cards as they tried to secure a 12-hour shift at a warehouse. “We need strong people,” the agent told the group, warning them that the warehouse was hot because of the summer weather. The men were among thousands of domestic migrant workers in the Chinese metropolis who are struggling to make ends meet as they compete for shrinking factory and construction jobs in a slowing economy. China’s top politicians — including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang — gathered this week for a key meeting that focuses on the country’s economic woes. Outside the employment agency, Shen Peng, 34, from northern China’s Shaanxi province, said he had been looking for work for 10 days without success. “I want a job in a factory,” he told AFP, adding that so far he has only found jobs offering him hard manual labor for low pay. A single father and former restaurant cook, Shen is the family’s sole breadwinner. “The mother (of my child) got sick and died, so this is something I owe to my child… I have to at least find something with a higher income,” Shen told AFP. Recently returned to Shanghai after three years at home in Shaanxi, Shen pays 40 yuan ($5.50) a night for a small room with air conditioning in a guesthouse and considers himself lucky compared with others who pay less for dorms with only a fan. ‘I did everything’ The current shortage of job opportunities contrasts sharply with Shen’s experience when he first arrived in Shanghai in 2017. Back then, there were plenty of jobs to choose from, and he worked at a factory owned by Taiwanese company Quanta Computer, earning up to 8,000 yuan a month with room and board provided by his employer. Now, he says, hiring agents are more selective in filling coveted factory roles. “In the past, there were no restrictions, as long as you knew the 26 letters of the English alphabet,” he told AFP, adding that hiring agents now even turn down people who looked obese, fearing they were unsuitable for the job. Shen Chunping, from Anhui and no relation to Shen Peng, had better luck at the employment agency last Tuesday. He was selected for a temporary position as a dishwasher at a restaurant, paying 112 yuan a day. Finding the job was a big relief for Shen Chunping, who had been struggling to find work in May and June. “I’m short and uneducated, I only went to junior high school, so now I take any job I can,” he told AFP. “I’ve done everything, delivered packages, worked as a security guard, delivered takeaways, done everything,” Shen Chunping said. “This year, there are more people (looking for work), and they can’t find it,” he told AFP. – Dreams of Shanghai – Before dawn last Tuesday, about 100 people gathered at an informal job fair by the roadside outside an unassuming housing estate near an employment agency. Many stood with shovels in their hands, waiting for employers to pick them for construction work. Workers who had been there since 3 a.m. chatted with familiar faces between bites of fried bread sold at a nearby breakfast stand. “This year is a bit worse than last year, Shanghai’s development has reached its limit,” Shao Tongfang from Anhui province, who was waiting for work, told AFP. Shao said he has been seeking his fortune in the wealthy Chinese city for 20 years. He plans to return to farming in his hometown “in a few years, when I can’t stay here anymore.” “I can’t do this in my hometown,” said Mei Buqin, another worker from Anhui. asked why he chose to look for a job in Shanghai. As the sun rose, one of the happier job seekers told AFP he was driving to work. The smiling man hopped on the back of a scooter driven by his new employer and they rode off into the city.tjx/je/cwl