Editor’s note: Recently, the news that four textile industry occupations, including sewing workers and weavers, were listed among the top 100 shortage occupations for recruitment nationwide has attracted widespread attention in the industry. Many textile companies face difficulties in recruiting workers due to high labor intensity and mediocre remuneration. Recently, the Jiangsu Finance, Trade, Lighting and Textile Trade Union and the Jiangsu Textile Industry Association jointly investigated and wrote the “2019 Survey Report on the Income Situation of Front-line Workers in Jiangsu Province Industries” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”) to make a survey on the income of employees in the industry. We conducted a statistical survey and conducted a thorough investigation of the problems that plague the textile industry, such as difficulty in recruitment, difficulty in retaining people, and the aging of the workforce. We analyzed and sorted out the problems and put forward countermeasures and suggestions. The situation reflected in the “Report” is universal and representative in the industry. China Textile News specially compiled and distributed it to explore ways to solve the problem together with the majority of industry people.
Jiangsu Province plays a pivotal role in my country’s textile industry. The economic aggregate of the textile industry has ranked first in the country for 35 consecutive years. It is also a key area for state-owned enterprise restructuring, industrial transfer, and structural adjustment in recent years. In order to speed up the cultivation of advanced manufacturing industry, the Jiangsu Provincial Government has included high-end textiles in the province’s 13 advanced manufacturing clusters and focused on cultivating them. However, in recent years, problems such as difficulty in recruiting and retaining workers, and the aging of the workforce have been plaguing textile companies, seriously affecting the sustainable development of the textile industry. To this end, the Jiangsu Finance, Trade, Lighting and Textile Trade Union and the Jiangsu Textile Industry Association started from the wage issues that front-line workers in the textile industry are most concerned about, the most direct and most realistic, and analyzed samples of enterprises and employees in recent years through sample tracking surveys for three consecutive years. There are several problems that have been plaguing the textile industry in the past.
Current situation: multiple factors discourage young people
Currently, when choosing a career, many young people would rather choose jobs such as food delivery and restaurant waiters with average technical content and career growth potential, rather than working as skilled workers in factories. The survey selected three types of work: operation operators (roving workers, spinners, weavers), security workers, and garment production workers, which are highly representative and widely covered in the textile industry. Suzhou was selected based on the distribution of the textile industry in the province. , Wuxi, Changzhou, Nantong, Yancheng, Huai’an and other 51 companies spent 3 months visiting production workshops, interviewing business operators, and conducting a questionnaire survey on 3,014 front-line textile workers.
According to sample statistics, the average annual salary for employees in the textile industry in Jiangsu Province in 2018 was 52,699.6 yuan, and the monthly average was 4,391.6 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9%. The salary is 45,496.2 yuan, with a monthly average of 3,791.4 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6%. Among them, southern Jiangsu is above the average, central Jiangsu is slightly below average, and northern Jiangsu is the lowest. The survey also analyzed the income status of employees from the aspects of different types of work, different skill levels, different educational backgrounds, and different working hours. Regarding income satisfaction, 31.4% of employees were satisfied, while half of the employees rated it as “average” and 13.7% said they were “dissatisfied.” In terms of revenue and satisfaction rankings, the top three sample companies in terms of revenue are Suzhou Hermès Clothing, Suzhou Shenghong Group, and Nantong Huaye Textile; the top three companies in the sample are Suzhou Dino Landon and Suzhou Shenghong Group. , Changzhou Rongyuan Clothing.
The survey report shows that low wages, poor working environment, long working hours, and low security levels are the common living conditions of employees in textile enterprises. In addition, enterprises are also facing multiple pressures in development.
Low wages. In 2018, the average annual salary of textile workers was 52,699.6 yuan. During the same period, the average annual salary of employees in urban non-private units was 86,590 yuan. The wages of textile workers were far lower than the average income of employees in urban non-private units across the province. Employees reported that at the beginning of the reform and opening up, the wages and benefits of enterprises were similar to those of government agencies and public institutions. Now the gap continues to widen, especially when prices continue to rise and housing prices remain high. “It is difficult for college students to gain a foothold in the textile industry” and “the industry It is difficult for workers to establish a career.” Improving the wages of highly skilled talents in enterprises is an important prerequisite for allowing more industrial workers to enter the middle-income group.
The working environment is poor. The noise in the workshops of some spinning and weaving companies is loud, even exceeding 100 decibels, which is unbearable; many companies arrange night shifts for production, which will disrupt the body’s biological clock; operating operators need to keep walking around the looms to work High intensity; some printing and dyeing parks have “odour”, which may affect health, etc. All these discourage young employed people. The aging workforce and age gap have had a greater impact on the sustainable development of the textile industry.
Long working hours. In order to improve labor productivity and increase workers’ income, most of the textile companies surveyed, especially garment manufacturing companies, mainly adopt a piece-work system, so that more work is more rewarded. It is almost impossible to earn a higher income without working overtime. On the issue of “extending working hours”, many companies still break through the provisions of the Labor Law. Among the surveyed companies, 44.7% worked an average of 13.6 hours of overtime per week and 54.4 hours per month, exceeding the “Labor Law” requirement of “no more than 36 hours per month.”
The level of protection is low. In terms of enterprises’ payment of “five insurances and one fund”, although the sample enterprises participating in the survey have basically achieved full coverage, with 60% of enterprises paying housing provident funds for their employees, but…Nearly 70% of enterprises mainly pay employees according to the minimum payment standards. Although Article 12 of the “Social Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China” stipulates that employers should pay basic pension insurance premiums based on “the total wages of their employees” and employees should pay “proportion of their own wages”, most companies pay basic pension insurance premiums based on the amount provided by the human resources and social security department. The lower limit of the payment base shall be paid, and the housing provident fund shall be paid for employees according to the minimum payment ratio of 5%. Some companies even think that the housing provident fund can be paid or not paid, or not paid at all.
Enterprises are under great pressure. Currently, textile companies are generally facing four major pressures: economic downturn, recruitment, technological transformation, and environmental protection. The long-term overcapacity, under the uncertain external environment caused by the Sino-US trade friction this year, has made the problems of small orders, small batches, urgent delivery and thin profits more prominent for enterprises. Young people cannot be recruited or retained, and enterprises are unable to recruit new workers. Textile enterprises have low profits, which makes technological transformation difficult. Due to resource and environmental constraints, the cost of standardizing the operation of enterprises increases. Many textile companies are struggling to survive on the edge of profit and loss.
Countermeasures: Let skilled talents have more ambition
In order to crack the above problems, this survey put forward some suggestions and solutions. For example: by establishing a salary incentive mechanism for skilled workers, encouraging employees to learn skills, develop skills, and earn more money, solve the problem of age gap and technical gap among employees in the textile industry, and allow skilled talents in the industry to have more potential; through building knowledge-based, technology-based , innovative workforce, enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises, and promote the healthy development of the industry.
It is necessary to promote the government to formulate distribution policies that favor industrial workers. It is necessary to analyze the deep-seated reasons behind the difficulty in recruiting and retaining workers in the traditional manufacturing industry, adjust the income distribution pattern, and formulate distribution policies that favor industrial workers in accordance with the principle of “those with high skills will get more, and those who work hard will get more.” In recent years, the government has issued relevant documents regarding the allocation of salary income to high-skilled workers. How to increase the operability of the policy, especially for the majority of non-private enterprises, requires strengthened research and docking.
It is necessary to establish and improve a dynamic release mechanism for tracking industry salary samples. To implement the requirements of the “Implementation Plan for the Reform and Implementation of Jiangsu Industrial Worker Team Building in the New Era”, refer to the development status of the textile industry, social average wages, local price levels, etc., through sample tracking research, understand the labor market wage price information, and establish enterprise operators, trade union representatives, On the employee side, the income of front-line employees has been normalized, the research system has been adjusted, and the R&D results release system has been implemented. Promote enterprises to formulate reasonable income distribution systems, guide the orderly flow of industrial workers, and promote healthy and fair competition among textile enterprises.
It is necessary to help the industry transform and upgrade to high-precision and intelligent industries. In accordance with the provincial government’s proposal to “take the brand construction of clothing and other terminal products as the leader to achieve the goal of strengthening the textile province”, we must lead enterprises to change the practice of OEM processing, increase brand building efforts, and win more profit margins for textile workers to increase their income. . At the same time, it is necessary to increase investment in technological transformation and accelerate the construction and investment of “digital workshops” and “smart factories”. This is the fundamental way to solve the old problems of poor environment in the textile industry such as “the work is too tiring” and “the workshop is too noisy” in textile enterprises. Improve career attractiveness in the textile industry.
It is necessary to build a harmonious and win-win working situation of labor relations in the textile industry. It is necessary to continue to adhere to the joint meeting system of industrial unions and industry associations, strengthen source cooperation, and jointly study outstanding common issues in labor relations among textile industry enterprises; it is necessary to conscientiously implement the relevant document requirements of the National Federation of Trade Unions and Provincial Federation of Trade Unions on promoting the reform and innovation of industrial unions. , in textile industry agglomeration areas and industrial clusters, adopt various forms to form industry trade union federations, establish industry collective consultation mechanisms, and promptly study and reflect the interests and demands of textile industry employees; it is necessary to strengthen the ideological and political guidance of textile industry employees, and carry out in-depth party building leadership Construction activities maximize the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of employees in the province’s textile industry, and contribute to the promotion of Jiangsu’s textile province.
The textile industry is in a critical period of transformation and upgrading. The implementation of the “three products” strategy and the construction of a manufacturing power require the improvement of the quality of the workforce. The wages of front-line technical workers should reasonably reflect the value of labor and professional qualifications. Linking recognition to salary and providing incentives in terms of honors, bonuses, allowances, political honors and social honors are effective ways and means to enhance employees’ sense of gain, happiness and growth space. </p
