As the Spring Festival draws near, 30-year-old father Yang
Yiping is becoming increasingly worried: He needs to find a
substitute nanny to look after his baby daughter during China's
most important traditional festival. His previous nanny packed up
and left.
"It seems the whole city is looking for nannies," says he, who
has approached almost all the top nanny agencies across Guangzhou,
capital of South China's Guangdong province.
Equally anxious are the agencies in Guangzhou. "Guangzhou lacks
some 70,000 housekeepers and the shortage will worsen in the coming
few days," says Chen Ting, president of Guangdong Household
Management Association. About 60 percent of the household workers
are heading home and won't return to their jobs until the Lantern
Festival on February 21.
The baby boom in 2007 has intensified the demand for childcare
workers or housekeepers, Chen says. For many Chinese, 2007, the
Year of the Pig, was an auspicious time to enlarge a family.
Chen's association encourages members to share information and
abide by service and price standards. "In this way, the childcare
workers or housekeepers in lesser known agencies will have more
employment opportunities," he notes.
Tian Xin, general manager of Guangzhou Zhengxianghe Housekeeping
Service Co, one of the largest suppliers of household staff in
Guangzhou, says her agency last week was flooded by more 100 calls
on a single day. The callers all wanted full-time nannies. "We are
looking for local workers and offering pay rises and bonuses to
migrant workers," Tian says.
Other big cities in Guangdong are facing the same problem. In
Shenzhen, another economic powerhouse of the province, the shortage
is estimated to reach 120,000 during the Spring Festival.
(China Daily January 21, 2008)