Combating Unemployment and Restoring Self-esteem
The Retraining of Laid-off Women Workers in Nanjing and Wuxi
 |
Laid-off women workers attending a re-training course |
With China's on-going reforms in state-owned factories, millions of workers, especially women, have lost their jobs over the last two years. Official statistics indicate that 5.7 million urban residents have no jobs and this number will increase by another 3 million by the end of 1999. This is contributing to the rise in urban poverty as family incomes fail to keep pace with the rising costs of goods and services. To combat this trend and enable laid-off women workers find new jobs, the Amity Foundation is supporting retraining programs for them in various cities, including Nanjing and Wuxi, in Jiangsu Province.
Retraining of Women Workers in Nanjing
Forty-three year old Nieh Jing Ping spent 20 years as a skilled worker in a state-owned factory producing garments and watches. When the Nanjing-based factory started retrenching workers in 1997, she was told to remain at home and was jobless for a year. She finally found a job in May 1998 as a domestic help. Working 6 hours a day for two families, she now earns a monthly income of 480 RMB per month which is higher than what she used to receive. But Nieh still feels it is a "loss of face" to work as a domestic helper and does not want her friends to know.
Nieh is one of those who underwent a training course the Amity Foundation has co-sponsored with the Gulou District Labor Bureau in an effort to help similarly retrenched women workers in Nanjing find new employment. The 6-week long courses for women between ages 35 and 50 train them for work as domestic helpers and nursing aides. Most of the unemployed are from state-owned industries forced to reduce staff or close down. Eighty-five of laid-off workers are women. At the beginning of 1998 alone, more than 3,600 women were laid off in the light industries sector in Nanjing.
Restoring self-respect is critical
The most important aspect of these retraining courses is the restoration of self-esteem and self-confidence. Attitudes are changing but "loss of face" is still a critical problem for many forced to shift from working in large, prestigious firms to being domestic employees and nursing aides. When the retraining courses first began in 1997, not too many registered for them. Now that the numbers of unemployed have increased and workers realize they have little alternative, the demand for retraining has risen and more courses are being conducted.
In a typical course on home management, participants are taught the science of housekeeping, hygiene, use of the latest in home appliances and cooking skills. Those who have undergone training can receive higher salaries and are given recommendations by the labor training center. This usually helps them secure new jobs more easily. At least 95% of those trained find jobs within a month. Some work part-time in as many as four different families earning up to 800 RMB (US$ 100) per month (or twice the average salary of factory workers).
Apart from sponsoring courses on home management, Amity has also supported the retraining of women as nursing aides. Chai Chunhua was an accountant at the Nanjing railway station before she was forced into early retirement at age 44 in November '98.
She initially worked as a salesperson for a pharmaceutical firm but decided to join a retraining course for nursing aides. She now works at the Gulou District Hospital and although the work is harder, finds her new job much more meaningful. The training courses are conducted in cooperation with the hospital and trainees have to practice at the hospital before being hired. Most trainees have middle school education and when hired, earn between 500 to 600 RMB (US$ 63 to 75) per month.
 |
Chai Chunhua (R) with colleagues at Gulou District Hospital |
State firms often provide laid off workers with compensation ranging from 120 to 200 RMB (US$ 15 to 25) a month. But this is barely enough to sustain a family living in the city. Used to being part of a collective, laid-off workers often feel abandoned and at a loss. "Our factory no longer cares about us!" laments 38-year old Gong Xiaoyu. A former clerk-typist in a collectively-owned factory, she now works as a domestic helper. Her factory has not given her any unemployment benefits and she claims it wants her to pay for health insurance even though she is no longer employed. Gong is grateful for the training Amity has made possible and says that it has not only given her a much greater sense of self-confidence but also a sense of "belonging". Says Gong, "Our teachers show a lot of concern and call us to find out if we already have jobs. I feel that I now belong to a network and I can go somewhere for help."
 |
Gong Xiaoyu (R) with her new employer |
Retraining program in Wuxi
Ming Peizhen, a resident of Wuxi, is a 47 year-old widow with a 16-year old son who hopes to enter college soon. The sole breadwinner in the family after her husband died of cancer six years ago, she lost her factory job and the family's only source of income in January 1998. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she spoke of the shock and desolation of losing her job. After suffering from several long months of constant worry, ill health and financial problems, she sought help from the Wuxi Women's Federation. The free training in home management she received helped land her a job as a nanny. She now earns 440 RMB (US$ 55) per month in addition to getting unemployment benefit from her former factory.
"Life has improved significantly. The training changed my thinking and attitude towards being a housekeeper and nanny," she recalls. "I used to consider it demeaning but now feel it is a respectable job. I don't hide it from my friends." Peizhen now considers herself fortunate especially since the ranks of the unemployed have swelled. There are more than 20,000 unemployed in Wuxi, out of a population of 1.2 million. More than half are women, many of whom are above age 35 and with less education than the younger ones.
Run by the Wuxi Women's Federation with funding from the Amity Foundation, the retraining program for retrenched women workers covers a variety of training courses. Trainers come from different government units, universities, colleges and hospitals. Funding from Amity is used to cover rent for classrooms, fees for specialists, materials, lunch for trainees, and a revolving fund for small enterprises. Amity is the NGO that has helped most and its annual support of 120,000 RMB (US$ 15,000) helps to cover more than 80% of retraining costs.
The Wuxi Women's Federation plans to retrain 3,800 women workers in the first phase of the program which not only involves skills-training courses but also job placements and follow-up activities. Its trainees have developed skills in community organizing, insurance, sales, housekeeping, nursing and caring for school children. The program has had an impact on local communities: it has provided younger and more competent staff for neighborhood committees which used to be run by elderly retirees. More than 300 of those retrained were assigned to different districts and have brought vitality and dynamism to their jobs and new and creative services to these neighborhoods.
Revolving Fund helps small enterprises create more jobs
Some retrained workers have successfully started small business enterprises that in turn provide new jobs for others. 48-year old Hua Mingzhu owns a small real estate firm in which she now employs three others like herself: retrenched women workers. She used to be in charge of sales at a feeds factory but was retrenched 2 years ago. After attending a course run by the Women's Federation, she decided to set up the company, with much encouragement from the training center and the Women's Federation. The real estate business is relatively new in Wuxi but Hua foresees extremely good prospects for development in this area. The Federation also helped her recruit staff. Her initial startup capital was around 20,000 RMB (US$ 2,500) which she borrowed from relatives and friends. Her present 10 meter-square office is extremely small but business has been good and her employees can earn as much as 2,000 RMB (US$ 250) per month.
Like Hua, Qian Pengcheng has started a small business. The little "information station" cum-job placement agency she has recently started advertises job vacancies, the rent and sale of homes and even marriage introduction services! An administrator in a silk factory for 30 years before being retrenched, Qian credits the retraining course for giving her confidence and hope. Her starting capital was only 10,000 RMB (US$ 1,250).
On a larger scale, 41-year old Wang Liping has developed a rapidly growing business as the sole distributor of popular vacuum-packed duck meat products from a village enterprise in Changzhou, near Wuxi. After only two months in the business, she now employs 15 workers and supplies 46 outlets, including major supermarkets. Formerly a skilled worker in an electrical firm, she joined another factory where she was retrenched a second time. With two children to support, she was in desperate straits when she approached the Women's Federation for help.
 |
Wang Liping (L) talking with Amity's Gu Renfa |
The Federation provided training as well as links with the Changzhou village duck enterprise which was in need of distribution outlets in Wuxi. Wang also received some financial assistance from the retraining program in starting her enterprise. This comes from a revolving fund of 20,000 RMB (US$ 2,500) established with the help of Amity to assist in running costs for small enterprises set up by retrained women workers.
The success of the Wuxi retraining program lies in the follow-up and networking. Not only does the Federation help trainees to land new jobs, it encourages them to form support networks and puts them in touch with relevant organizations and businesses. Yen Minghua, Director of the Wuxi Women's Retraining Service Center explained that the Women's Federation started a variety of training courses so that workers will have more choices. Liaison work with different government departments have been critical in ensuring job placements and the training is geared to respond to existing needs. According to Gu Renfa of Amity Foundation, in the second phase of the project, the Women's Federation has plans of developing networks and "information stations" to help those in need. In one month, the first such station has helped more than 30 people find jobs. The Federation hopes to establish 10 stations all over the city. There will be an emphasis on community services which is becoming a new field for re-employment. Most important, support networks of retrained workers are being encouraged so that they can regularly communicate and get together to exchange ideas and share information.
Theresa Carino
