labor - Companies cannot pay more for migrant workers

An interesting picture emerges from the steady stream of reports at the Asian Labour News. Based on a survey of the ministry of Labor and Social Security the shortage of migrant workers has developed into a sword of Damocles. The only way to get migrant workers back into the factories in southern China is to raise their wages. Because of the tiny margins that those companies make, it would mean they would lose their competitive edge very soon.
'This means the low-cost, labour-intensive manufacturing centres could be forced out and begin migrating to the central and western parts of China,' the report says. That might be a long way though.