There’s no place like home. Despite business owners offering triple pay for staff working this Spring Festival, many workers still planned to go home.
Every year, Chinese people come home to their families to celebrate Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, leaving many industry positions vacant.
According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in April 2016, China had more than 277 million rural workers in 2015--majority at 60 percent worked outside their hometowns, and 44.5 percent worked in the services industry.
To curb manpower shortage, Chinese companies in the service industry are offering workers up to three times their normal salary.
Other companies are offering hongbao, or gift money wrapped in red envelopes worth 300 to 500 yuan, as an alternative incentive to work for housekeepers who stay and work during the holidays.
During Spring Festival, the demand for housekeeping increases by three times, but only a third of nearly 10,000 workers remain on duty.
This phenomenon also happens in traditional industries such as hairdressing, online shopping, and delivery companies.
While some delivery companies do not offer a salary three times higher, their delivery fee usually increases at least twice more.
From the normal delivery fee of 4 yun to 6 yuan ($0.58 to 0.88), it will increase to 12 yuan to 15 yuan during the festival.
The festival is considered the most important annual occasion for family reunions and it falls on Jan. 28 this year.
Over the years, the Chinese culture has undergone many dramatic changes, but if there’s one thing that never change, it’s the family structure and the importance of family values.