Chinese migrant job losses mount

In China, an estimated 20 million workers from rural areas who had been working in cities have lost their jobs, according to a senior official.

A survey carried out in 15 provinces suggests about 15% of the total migrant labour pool is now unemployed.

There are fears that if large numbers of workers cannot find jobs, that could lead to social unrest.

The Chinese government researchers visited 165 villages across the country to try to build an accurate picture.

They were looking at how the economic malaise here is spreading.

The data they collected suggests the number of migrant workers now unemployed is 20 million - far higher than had been announced previously.

With last week's Spring Festival now over, millions of workers who had spent the week at home with their families were due to return to the cities.

But many have no jobs to come back to.

Unhappy unemployed

The government has said the economic downturn in China first started to be felt in the provinces where many exporters were based in the east and south of the country.

But now the effects are being felt further west as migrant workers see their wages cut or lose their jobs and are forced to return home.

A new document setting out rural policy for the year ahead warns that "shocks to agricultural and rural development are constantly emerging".

This year it will be hard to improve the incomes and the lives of farmers it says.

The fear of course is that large numbers of unhappy unemployed workers in rural areas could cause trouble.

The government says maintaining stable and fast economic development is the main task for the year ahead, according to reports.

Officials have been told to do what they can to "nip problems in the bud" - to try to resolve them before they can provoke protests.