中國勞工薪資漲幅放緩

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.

中國玻璃廠工人王偉(音譯)的收入在過去10年幾乎增長了兩倍。兩位數(shù)的年度薪資漲幅已推動中國的平均薪資水平超過拉美國家。

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

但33歲的王偉發(fā)現(xiàn)現(xiàn)在薪資上漲放緩。他是中國2.8億多流動工作的農(nóng)民工群體中的一員。

“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.

正在昆山一家飯館吃著牛肉面的王偉說：“我現(xiàn)在的月工資與去年大致持平，大約有5000元人民幣(合760美元)。”位于中國東部的昆山是一個工業(yè)樞紐。

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.

官方統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)表明，王偉的經(jīng)歷越來越常見。“農(nóng)民工”的平均名義薪資漲幅去年降至7%以下——農(nóng)民工是指那些戶口在農(nóng)村，但背井離鄉(xiāng)前往城市打工的人群——而消費者價格指數(shù)上漲2%。中國城市里的工人們也發(fā)現(xiàn)，隨著整體經(jīng)濟增長下降至25年來最低水平，他們的薪資漲速放緩。

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.

但與金融危機過后逾20%的上漲相比，農(nóng)民工薪資的下降更為引人注目。

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.

當初，中國政府出臺了龐大的刺激方案，并激進地上調(diào)了最低薪資標準，這推升了薪資水平，也促使制造商考慮將生產(chǎn)遷往勞動力成本較低的國家。

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擔憂中國可能喪失其競爭優(yōu)勢，最終迫使當局逆轉(zhuǎn)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.”

在中國廣東省管理著一家服裝廠的格哈德•弗拉茨(Gerhard Flatz)表示：“中國政府前些年推動薪資上漲。然后當出口放緩的時候，政府不再上調(diào)最低薪資標準。”

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，中國只有5個地區(qū)截止6月上調(diào)了最低工資標準，而2015年同期有27個地區(qū)上調(diào)標準。去年平均薪資漲幅從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.

國際勞工組織(ILO)中國辦公室主任蒂姆•德梅耶爾(Tim De Meyer)贊同這種說法，他說，最有可能導致薪資上漲放緩的原因是政策改變。

“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.

德梅耶爾表示：“由于農(nóng)民工往往集中在勞動力市場的低技能領域，在勞動力市場上的影響力較低，因此他們的薪資水平更容易由官方最低工資標準決定。”

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.

當政府刺激計劃的效果開始消退的時候——刺激資金被輸送至房地產(chǎn)和基礎設施——薪資上漲也開始放緩。制造業(yè)未能填補就業(yè)缺口，官方PMI指數(shù)表明，自2012年以來招聘需求幾乎每個月都在收縮。

“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.

昆山招牌代理程偉(音譯)表示：“這里的企業(yè)沒有真的擴大招聘。”他坐在一張破舊的桌子后面，旁邊是臺資的富士康(Foxconn)等制造商的招聘廣告牌。

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，新的招聘職位往往是在服務領域——去年近47%的農(nóng)民工就職于服務領域，遠高于2011年33%的比例——但這些職位的薪資一般低于制造業(yè)。

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，一些較年輕的農(nóng)民工選擇服務業(yè)崗位，因為這些工作被認為沒有那么大的壓力。在一家手機店工作的23歲的柳寧(音譯)說：“我過去在工廠掙得多一些，但這里的工作更輕松。”

“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”.

咨詢公司龍洲經(jīng)訊(GK Dragonomics)的分析師Ernan Cui在最近一份報告中寫道：“如今中國勞動力市場的真正問題不是失去多少就業(yè)崗位，而是創(chuàng)造的就業(yè)崗位的質(zhì)量。大多數(shù)新的就業(yè)崗位是在小企業(yè)或者自雇，因此薪資水平較低，而且沒什么保障。”

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.

香港理工大學(Hong Kong Polytechnic University)勞工專家陳慧玲(Jenny Chan)表示，旨在增強工人保護的政策逆轉(zhuǎn)，也削弱了農(nóng)民工的議價能力。企業(yè)越來越多地使用薪酬微薄的實習生，這讓工人們很難要求漲薪，同時對工人維權的打壓形成了嚇阻罷工的“政治氣氛”。

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.

在昆山的招聘機構，眾多求職者只能找到“臨時工作”——這意味著沒有簽訂勞動合同的工作。中國近三分之二的農(nóng)民工沒有簽訂勞動合同，這讓他們沒有資格獲得額外福利。國際勞工組織的德梅耶爾表示：“這一數(shù)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.

來自甘肅的年輕農(nóng)民工李宏(音譯)表示，他現(xiàn)在在一家食品廠上班，每個月大約掙3000元人民幣，9小時倒班制。他騎著自行車來到招聘機構尋找更高薪水的工作。但在簡短詢問之后，他失望地離開了。他說：“找工作容易，但找到一份好工作很難。”