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One-child workers: A generation of 'little emperors'
Chinese light factory workers
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TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Steve Chiotakis: China's currency swung down today. It's seesawed since the weekend, when Beijing unpegged the yuan from the dollar. Long-term, though, most expect it to rise, nudging up the price of Chinese exports. But there's another reason Chinese goods may cost more: higher labor costs. Young workers are harder to find, in part because of China's one-child policy. Marketplace China Correspondent Scott Tong is with us from Shanghai to explain. Hi Scott.
Scott Tong: Good morning, Steve.
Chiotakis: So the one-child policy is going on 30 years. That generation is entering the work force, right?
Tong: Yes, and this generation is, as many people call it, the "little emperors". In general, they were the center of their universes growing up, and now the whole constellation has changed. They're now workers. Several HR managers we spoke to described this generation in general as moodier, more demanding, a friend of mine even said that they take personal calls when they're interviewing. What surveys show clearly is human resources is the number one source of angst for businesses in China.
Chiotakis: And answering a personal call during an interview, it doesn't sound like they're going to get hired, right?
Tong: Well, you need to hire some people from this generation, I mean this is a whole generation of people. And for all the complaints, this generation has a lot going for it. They're much more educated than ever before and they're known to learn quickly. So given the right incentives, they will produce. Now if you're the company and you get it wrong, they will bolt. The turnover rate in Shanghai is something like 20 percent, compared to like 5 percent in advanced economies.
Chiotakis: So Scott, so many opportunities there in China, I mean how do companies hang on to those workers?
Tong: It's really hard for them. China's growing so quickly that there aren't enough good people for all of the international companies that want to hire them. So they have these only children who have sky-high expectations. One manager says his workers expect to be promoted every two years, and a 10 percent raise every year. Well think about, then, that China manager for a multinational company. He or she has to call headquarters back and say Detroit, and ask for double-digit personel raises. And Detroit says, "No, this is a recession -- call back when you're sober." So have a little pity for HR managers in China, this is a challenging generation of new workers to deal with.
Chiotakis: Marketplace's Scott Tong reporting from Shanghai. Scott, thanks.
Tong: You're welcome.
I believe some of the readers may have misinterpreted the subject of this article. The workers that Scott talks about are not the migrant workers in monotonous assembly line factories but fresh out of college graduates. A cousin of mine who is a manager in Shanghai attests that even interns are very egotistic and have high expectations. For example, an intern walks in on the first day and expects to understand the company's business model. Really? And taking personal phone calls in an interview isn't something I would even begin to imagine if I remotely wanted a job anywhere.
This isn't about whether these workers have rights or low pay; it's about workers running up to HR managers and demanding things when thay have not even proven themselves to be productive to a company.
The tone of this report really is offensively off-base in light of all the other excellent reporting about exploding labor unrest in China. Most of the country's new workers are young migrants from outside the cities, and their significance is that they're the first generation to push back against sweatshop labor, not that they have "sky-high-expectations." This was a very lazy and inaccurately-framed segment.
I don't know who this Scott Tong is but I'm wondering if he really knows China or just lying on the bed and making some data. Taking mobile call during an interview looks like a supporting evidence, can Scott tell me what's the rate of these behaviors among all the interviews in China? And what's the rate in NA and Europe? Employees expect 10% raise each year and promotion every 2 years? In which industry? where this data comes from? Yes of course if the employees earn $0.63 per hour why not (I'm not Scoot because I have my source here: http://plasticsnews.com/china/english/chinablog/2009/05/chinas_real_labo...)? And why not quit for earning $0.63 per hour for more than 1 year and no promotion at all? Damn un-huh? No sweatshop anymore. What a pity!
Actually in China different industries are very different from each other, and different levels of labors remain separately and clearly different. China tops world ranking for number of college students, they are well educated, willing to accept low pay and HONEST.
I don't even want to talk about the single child rule and its influence, Scott you old school can keep holding your rumors. The world has been flat for 20 years, and people like you just don't want to accept it.
Scott Tong and Steve Chiotakis seemed to agree that it was hilarious that Chinese workers are actually gaining some bargaining power against management. Taking a call during an interview? Yeah, HR guys never do that! And demanding better pay and steady advancement? Crazy talk! It's like they think they have rights or something!
