Recruiting in China

The government should take steps to better protect Chinese workers abroad, especially because their number could increase to more than 1 million in the next few years, experts said yesterday.

The experts were responding to reports that 23 Chinese working on a construction site in Saudi Arabia had been deported for protesting against poor pay. They were among the 200 Chinese workers who went on strike to demand better pay.

Many Chinese working overseas have had to weather problems such as kidnappings, attacks, frauds and economic disputes.

About 794,000 Chinese workers were hired to work overseas at end of November 2008 -51,000 more than the previous year - according to Ministry of Commerce figures.

But Lu Jinyong, professor of overseas investment at the University of International Business and Economics, said the actual figure could be much higher.

"The official figure comprises workers who have registered with the government before going abroad. It doesn't include workers who have left without registration," he said.

So "it's quite likely that the actual figure has crossed 1 million". And that number will continue to rise sharply, thanks to globalization, he said.

Across the world, about 30 million workers earn their livelihood away from their countries or regions. Bangladesh contributes about 2 million and the Philippines more than 1 million to that number. "Compared with them, the number of Chinese workers has a huge potential to grow," Lu said. And so will be dangers facing them.

The government shouldn't try to deal with the problem by tightening measures to curb labor export. "Instead, it should try to analyze Chinese workers' experiences and take steps to better protect them," he said.

The government has promulgated a special law on labor export, and the ministries of foreign affairs and commerce deal jointly with overseas incidents.

"Chinese embassies have done a very good job," he said, but local authorities should inform workers about the laws of the land they are headed to and how to put across their demands in the best possible way.

Xiao Lian, senior world economy scholar with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said he saw workers from home "trapped" by their Chinese agencies when he was in Africa recently to attend a meeting. Such agencies are actually "human traffickers".

"Some local governments have granted permission to unscrupulous agents to handle labor export. So it's hard to tell who should shoulder the responsibility in case a dispute arises."

"This is a problem that needs to be solved urgently. The Saudi Arabian case once again proves it," he said.

Xiao suggested Chinese working overseas seek the help of the law to settle any dispute.