Chinese Factories Now Compete to Woo Laborers - NYTimes.com

Chinese Factories Now Compete to Woo Laborers

ZHONGSHAN, China — If Wang Jinyan, an unemployed factory worker with a middle school education, had a résumé, it might start out like this: “Objective: seeking well-paid, slow-paced assembly-line work in air-conditioned plant with Sundays off, free wireless Internet and washing machines in dormitory. Friendly boss a plus.”

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Ariana Lindquist for The New York Times

Liang Yali sat in the dormitory for her company, Guangdong Mingmen Locks Industry, in Xiaolan, Guangdong,

Ariana Lindquist for The New York Times

Laborers filled out applications for factory employment at a recruiting station.

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As she eased her way along a gantlet of recruiters in this manufacturing megalopolis one recent afternoon, Ms. Wang, 25, was in no particular rush to find a job. An underwear company was offering subsidized meals and factory worker fashion shows. The maker of electric heaters promised seven-and-a-half-hour days. “If you’re good, you can work in quality control and won’t have to stand all day,” bragged a woman hawking jobs for a sChinese Factories Now Compete to Woo Laborers - NYTimes.com