中国劳工薪资涨幅放缓

Chinese glass factory employee Wang Wei’s income nearly tripled in the past decade, as double-digit annual wage rises pushed average salaries beyond those of Latin America.

中国玻璃厂工人王伟(音译)的收入在过去10年几乎增长了两倍。两位数的年度薪资涨幅已推动中国的平均薪资水平超过拉美国家。

But Mr Wang, part of the country’s 280m-strong itinerant rural workforce, has seen that growth slow.

但33岁的王伟发现现在薪资上涨放缓。他是中国2.8亿多流动工作的农民工群体中的一员。

“My monthly income is more or less the same as last year, about Rmb5,000 ($760),” said Mr Wang, 33, eating beef noodles at a restaurant in the eastern Chinese city of Kunshan, an industrial hub.

正在昆山一家饭馆吃着牛肉面的王伟说：“我现在的月工资与去年大致持平，大约有5000元人民币(合760美元)。”位于中国东部的昆山是一个工业枢纽。

Official statistics suggest that Mr Wang’s experience is becoming more common. Average nominal wage growth for “migrant” workers — whose official residence is in the countryside but who venture beyond their hometowns and villages for employment — fell below 7 per cent last year as consumer prices rose 2 per cent. Urban workers in China have also seen their wage packets grow more slowly as overall economic growth has declined to its slowest in 25 years.

官方统计数据表明，王伟的经历越来越常见。“农民工”的平均名义薪资涨幅去年降至7%以下——农民工是指那些户口在农村，但背井离乡前往城市打工的人群——而消费者价格指数上涨2%。中国城市里的工人们也发现，随着整体经济增长下降至25年来最低水平，他们的薪资涨速放缓。

But the declines for migrant workers have been more dramatic compared with the rises of more than 20 per cent seen in the wake of the financial crisis.

但与金融危机过后逾20%的上涨相比，农民工薪资的下降更为引人注目。

Then pay was lifted by a huge government stimulus programme and an aggressive campaign to boost minimum wages — prompting manufacturers to consider relocating production to cheaper countries.

当初，中国政府出台了庞大的刺激方案，并激进地上调了最低薪资标准，这推升了薪资水平，也促使制造商考虑将生产迁往劳动力成本较低的国家。

Falling exports in 2015 added to fears that China could lose its competitive edge, ultimately forcing the authorities to reverse course.

2015年出口下降令人更加担忧中国可能丧失其竞争优势，最终迫使当局逆转政策。

“The government was driving the wages up,” said Gerhard Flatz, who manages an apparel factory in the southern province of Guangdong. “Then when exports slowed down, then the government stopped pushing with the minimum wages.”

在中国广东省管理着一家服装厂的格哈德•弗拉茨(Gerhard Flatz)表示：“中国政府前些年推动薪资上涨。然后当出口放缓的时候，政府不再上调最低薪资标准。”

This year, just five regions in China had increased their minimum wages as of June, against 27 at the same point in 2015. The rate of salary increase fell to about 6 per cent on average last year from more than 20 per cent in 2011.

今年，中国只有5个地区截止6月上调了最低工资标准，而2015年同期有27个地区上调标准。去年平均薪资涨幅从2011年的逾20%下降至6%左右。

Policy change is the most likely factor behind slowing wage growth, agrees Tim De Meyer, the International Labour Organization’s China office director.

国际劳工组织(ILO)中国办公室主任蒂姆•德梅耶尔(Tim De Meyer)赞同这种说法，他说，最有可能导致薪资上涨放缓的原因是政策改变。

“As migrant workers typically dominate the low-skilled area of the labour market and have less labour market leverage, their wage levels are more readily determined by the official minimum wage,” he said.

德梅耶尔表示：“由于农民工往往集中在劳动力市场的低技能领域，在劳动力市场上的影响力较低，因此他们的薪资水平更容易由官方最低工资标准决定。”

Wage growth also started to slow when the effects of a government stimulus programme, which had been funnelled into real estate and infrastructure, began to recede. Manufacturing failed to pick up the employment slack, with the official PMI showing employment demand shrinking almost every month since 2012.

当政府刺激计划的效果开始消退的时候——刺激资金被输送至房地产和基础设施——薪资上涨也开始放缓。制造业未能填补就业缺口，官方PMI指数表明，自2012年以来招聘需求几乎每个月都在收缩。

“Businesses here aren’t really expanding employment,” said Kunshan employment agent Cheng Wei, who sat behind a battered desk beside posters advertising jobs for manufacturers such as Taiwan’s Foxconn.

昆山招牌代理程伟(音译)表示：“这里的企业没有真的扩大招聘。”他坐在一张破旧的桌子后面，旁边是台资的富士康(Foxconn)等制造商的招聘广告牌。

Nowadays, new jobs on offer tend to be in the service sector — nearly 47 per cent of migrant workers were employed in the sector last year, up from about 33 per cent in 2011 — but these jobs tend to pay less than manufacturing.

如今，新的招聘职位往往是在服务领域——去年近47%的农民工就职于服务领域，远高于2011年33%的比例——但这些职位的薪资一般低于制造业。

Even so, some younger migrants are choosing service jobs because they are perceived to be less stressful. “I used to get paid more in a factory, but the work here is lighter,” said Liu Ning, 23, who works at a mobile phone shop.

即便如此，一些较年轻的农民工选择服务业岗位，因为这些工作被认为没有那么大的压力。在一家手机店工作的23岁的柳宁(音译)说：“我过去在工厂挣得多一些，但这里的工作更轻松。”

“The real issue in China’s labour market today is not how many jobs are being destroyed, but the quality of jobs being created,” Ernan Cui of consultancy Gavekal Dragonomics wrote in a recent report. “Most new jobs are in small businesses or self-employment, and therefore offer lower wages and less security”.

咨询公司龙洲经讯(GK Dragonomics)的分析师Ernan Cui在最近一份报告中写道：“如今中国劳动力市场的真正问题不是失去多少就业岗位，而是创造的就业岗位的质量。大多数新的就业岗位是在小企业或者自雇，因此薪资水平较低，而且没什么保障。”

A rollback in policies designed to strengthen protection of workers has also weakened migrants’ bargaining power, according to Jenny Chan, a labour expert at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Rising use of low-paid student interns have put pressure on wages, while a crackdown on workers’ activism has created a “political atmosphere” deterring strikes, she said.

香港理工大学(Hong Kong Polytechnic University)劳工专家陈慧玲(Jenny Chan)表示，旨在增强工人保护的政策逆转，也削弱了农民工的议价能力。企业越来越多地使用薪酬微薄的实习生，这让工人们很难要求涨薪，同时对工人维权的打压形成了吓阻罢工的“政治气氛”。

At recruitment offices in Kunshan, a stream of job seekers were offered “temporary work” — meaning uncontracted labour. Nearly two-thirds of migrant workers in China have not signed employment contracts entitling them to extra benefits, “a figure that appears to be creeping upwards,” according to ILO’s Mr De Meyer.

在昆山的招聘机构，众多求职者只能找到“临时工作”——这意味着没有签订劳动合同的工作。中国近三分之二的农民工没有签订劳动合同，这让他们没有资格获得额外福利。国际劳工组织的德梅耶尔表示：“这一数字似乎在悄悄攀升。”

Li Hong, a young migrant from Gansu who said he earns about Rmb3,000 a month working nine-hour day shifts at a food factory, rolled up to the employment office on a bicycle in search of higher wages. But after making brief inquiries he left disappointed. “Its easy to find a job, but hard to find a good job,” he said.

来自甘肃的年轻农民工李宏(音译)表示，他现在在一家食品厂上班，每个月大约挣3000元人民币，9小时倒班制。他骑着自行车来到招聘机构寻找更高薪水的工作。但在简短询问之后，他失望地离开了。他说：“找工作容易，但找到一份好工作很难。”