Foreign Illegal Workers in Yangtze River Delta

Here illegal immigration has become an industry chain.

In recent years, at the background of "Labor Shortage" in China, some civilians from Southeast Asian countries have begun to find jobs through various illegal channels in China. It is investigated that, following Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta with a strong economy, has become another gathering place for foreign illegal workers.

Impact of foreign illegal workers into Yangtze River Delta

Li, an employee of a textile mill in Zhuji city, talked about the "foreign illegal workers" incident in her factory not long ago, “I have never thought that I work together with a group of foreigners every day. This is the first time that I hear of foreigners’ taking jobs in Chinese factories.” Li grew up in rural area in Jiangxi and has been out for jobs for two years. The foreigners she mentioned are a group of Vietnamese workers, "most of who do not understand Chinese, let alone speak Chinese or English. They could only make some simple gestures."

This group of Vietnamese workers includes 28 people, who rarely communicate with outsiders, although there are almost 400 employees in this mill. These foreigners live in their own "tribe", with a salary of over 1,000 yuan (150 US $) per month. Among them, Wei is the only one who can speak Chinese. He is 21 years old and crossed the China-Vietnam border illegally to get employed in the private factories in Guangxi and Guangdong provinces. This may, he went back to hometown and accompany his fellowmen to work in this mill in Chuji city.

Recently, in the government’s management of “Three-illegal” - namely illegal entry, illegal residence and illegal employment, Wei and his fellowmen have been investigated by relevant government departments. Wei expressed in the investigation that, “I love working in China, because in Vietnam, I only earns half of the salary for the same work. In my country, many people want to work in China.”

Illegal Employment: Rooted in Recruitment Difficulty

Yang, manager of the textile mill, said that it is difficult to recruit domestic workers when speaking of the illegal employment. It is known that, Yang’s textile mill belongs to small size in the medium local enterprises. Due to its rare investment in equipment updating and technological innovation, the mill needs more workers to produce the same amount of products, compared with other enterprises in bigger scale. Therefore, the problem of recruitment difficulty is reflected more obviously in this mill, at the background of labor shortage. Yang explained, “We have a lot of foreign orders. When foreign traders give us orders, we always make sure of the specific amount of the products. If that is a big order, we usually decline it.” Due to recruitment difficulty, many other local enterprises also limit the number of orders. Meanwhile, many equipment is laid aside.

This May, when Yang did business in Vietnam, local labor agency told him about the low-paid Vietnamese workers. "At that time, we were just short of labor. Thus we hired those Vietnamese in our textile mill." Yang explained. It is reported that when the Vietnam labor agency send out the employment information, several hundred people come to apply the vacancy. Considering the legitimacy of the employees in mainland China, Yang selected 28 applicants and helped them obtain one-month tourist visa. Thus these illegal workers entered China in the name of travelers. Yang said, “In the past, it was Chinese who went to work and do business abroad. Now, there are foreigners who come to work in China. That means the economic development in China is indeed growing rapidly.” But soon, the relevant government departments investigate the matter and deport all the 28 illegal foreigners. They also fined the mill 20 thousand yuan (2,985 US $) as an administrative penalty.

New Battlefield for Foreign Illegal Workers: Yangtze River Delta

In the 2008 financial crisis, some export-oriented enterprises suffered a heavy blow and some even went bankrupt. Many non-local workers were forced to go back home. With the improvement of external environment, since last year, local economy has recovered and production warmed up again. Thus there are frequent labor shortage and recruitment difficulty. Under such circumstances, many workers from Vietnam and Burma sneak into China to work here. In June, 2009, two foreign illegal workers were investigated and dealt with in Shaoxing county, Zhejiang province. In April,2010, four Burmese sneaked into China and worked in a socks factory in Zhuji and later were found out and deported in middle June by relevant government departments. When these four illegal workers are investigated, they explain that they could only earn ten US $ in the motherland, so many fellowmen want to work in China. Several hundred have sneaked into China, mostly in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

Employment of foreign illegal workers has been found in Pearl River Delta many years before, especially in Zhuhai, Guangdong in Guangzhou province. It has become an unspoken matter among many small and medium enterprises. In recent years, with the rapid development of textile, machinery, hardware and other labor-intensive enterprises in Yangtze River Delta, this area has become the new target for foreign illegal workers. As for their exact number, the authorities said that it is hard to calculate because they are all secretly hired. One of the relevant personnel released that the employment of foreign illegal workers in some small and medium enterprises has an expanding tendency, according to recent examination results.

Yang confirmed this statement, “The small labor agency with which I was in contact send over 400 workers to China every year. In the past, the main target is Guangdong region, but now Yangtze River Delta more and more."

Low-end Labor: Forbidden

It is known that, these foreign illegal workers from Vietnam and Burma are only paid half of the Chinese workers, even less. They are more attractive, compared with the current labor costs in China. Yang said," We are at the end of the industrial chain and our profits have been very low. If it is allowed, I welcome the Vietnamese workers in my factory. "Many entrepreneurs hold the same views as Yang and they are willing to hire foreigners in illegal way, because "the entrepreneurs do not need to pay all the insurance and these foreign workers will not cry up for improving wages. Unlike Chinese workers, they do not go home to celebrate the Spring Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival, which lays impact on production in the factory. "Thus, those foreigners favored by many small and medium enterprises, can they enter our factories and work legally there?

According to The Employment Regulations of Foreigners in China, it explicitly required for Foreigner Employment Permit and work visa for job which is to fulfill special need and is in shortage of suitable candidates in China, with no violation of domestic regulations.” It explicitly states that if the enterprise needs to employ foreigners, they must be high-end talents and it is forbidden to employ low-end labor.

As for foreign illegal workers, it clearly required that, those who employ aliens without permission may be fined 5,000-50,000 yuan (746-7,463 US $) and ordered to cover repatriation expenses.

Illegal Immigration: Illegal Industry Chain

According to recent investigation cases, as for foreign illegal workers, it has formed the influx in certain scale. Some illegal labor agencies make use of low charge to send workers into China. Vietnamese workers’ entry into China, especially in some remote hinterlands, is assisted by professional people with one-stop services including identifying candidates, assisting immigrants, contacting the factory and receiving and guiding, etc. These labor agencies generally help the workers enter China by organizing illegal immigration or tourist visa, and charge 200-500 yuan (30-75 US $) per capita. Many bosses in these labor agencies even build up a fortune through introducing foreign illegal workers to China.

Test for Domestic Labor Market

Foreign illegal workers have drawn attention of relevant government departments. In recent years, under the unified arrangements of the Ministry of Public Security, the public security department in Zhejiang province have carried out special action against "Three-illegal" and mobilize the masses to provide and report the clues. According to the provisions of Ministry of Public Security, all the foreigners who are illegal immigrants or illegal resident, whether registered in the United Nations refugee agency, the local public security organs must investigate, deal with and repatriate every illegal foreigner. However, due to temptation of profits, foreign illegal workers are favored by some small and medium enterprises, which result in the illegal employment in various places.

The personage inside the industry believes that, with the domestic recruitment difficulty, labor costs have risen further. Thus there may be more enterprises, especially the traditional manufacturing ones with low technologies, unlawfully employing foreign illegal workers at the risk of being fined, in order to improve the profits by lowering labor costs after meeting normal production of enterprises.  

It is known that at the end of 2009, China's registered urban unemployment rate was 4.3%, with 9.21 million registered unemployed persons in both rural and urban areas. Some experts of human resources have pointed out that, in current circumstances, with the influx of foreign illegal workers into China, the domestic low-end labor market will be greatly impacted.

Key of Enterprise: Restructuring & Upgrading

After 28 foreigners were repatriated, there is more idle equipment in Yang’s textile mill. Yang is still faced with the dilemma- unable to either recruit domestic workers or import foreign illegal workers. In every three-illegal elimination special action, there are always enterprises which are faced with the similar problem.

For small and medium processing enterprises, with no technology, no brand, low profits, the only thing they could do is to continue to reduce costs in order to maintain the current low profit margins. Experts point out that, with low-cost foreign labor, it has become possible to lower the production costs. That is the root for repeated employments of foreign illegal workers.

It is known that, in additional to increasing brand awareness and enhancing the competitiveness of products, there are some enterprises which try to go abroad, establishing production bases in Vietnam and other countries. The concerned people have agreed that this could not only eliminate and avoid the negative affects brought by trade barriers in international market, but also enjoy the foreign preferential policies and human resources cost advantages.

Take Shaoxing as an example, in recent years, Yuemei Group, Daheng Group and Hailiang Group in this city have established their own production base abroad respectively. They are Nigeria textile industrial park, Botswana textile industrial park, and Longjiang industrial park in Vietnam. In Longjiang industrial park in Vietnam, up to now, nine Chinese companies have settled down, including Zhengyuan Socks, Shuangda Woods and other labor-intensive enterprises.