Nearly 2.8 million migrant workers will become jobless and return to their Hunan hometowns in 2009 because of the global financial crisis, the Hunan Provincial Labor and Social Security Office said in a report yesterday.

Among Hunan's 12 million migrant workers, 80 percent work outside the province, 70 percent of them in Guangdong. According to a survey, 2.8 million migrant workers will return to Hunan next year because of the worsening labor market.

In the first three quarters of this year, 717,100 jobs were created in urban areas, 108,600 more than last year. However, global financial turbulence is impacting the employment situation and job-seekers are facing severe challenges. On average in Hunan each percentage point of growth creates about 40,000 jobs. GDP rose by 12.8 percent in the third quarter, 1.6 percent lower than last year, which means 64,000 fewer posts were created.

To ease expected employment pressure in 2009, the Hunan authorities are providing training for poor farmers and ex-servicemen and encouraging people to set up their own businesses.

(China.org.cn by Fan Junmei, November 12, 2008)