A job fair was held in Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province February 2, 2009.

February 4, jxcn.cn - Of all the provinces in China, Jiangxi provides the most migrant workers with 6.8 million people leaving Jiangxi in search of employment. Jiangxi local government departments have been trying to take measures to create jobs and increase rural incomes, according to Xinhua News Agency and CCTV.

Since the end of the last year, local authorities in Jiangxi have increased investment in forestry projects to create more jobs for returned migrant workers. An official there says the total investment from both local companies and the government has risen to 4 billion yuan. He also says it will create about 130,000 new jobs.

And in Shangrao alone, more than a 100 thousand migrant workers have been had to return home. A job fair is being held in Shangrao city after the Spring Festival. Enterprises from coastal provinces used to dominate such fairs in previous year, but this year companies within the province take the leading position. These local companies are bringing nearly 3 thousand jobs. Companies from other provinces provide only 10 percent of the jobs while the job mix is also different.

Wang Yongzhong, official of Shangrao municipal gov't, Jiangxi Province, says, "the number of enterprises from outside our province has dropped by nearly fifty percent this year. "

Ni Jun, official of Yiyang County, Jiangxi Province, says, "this year jobs of tertiary industry account for nearly 80 percent, while manufacturing provides only 20 percent. It used to take up more than half before."

Most job hunters are migrant workers who came back home last year. Mr. Xu, working in Ningbo, a city in east China's Zhejiang province for eight years, has decided not work in other provinces again in the future.

A return worker says, "I haven't been home for some time. I feel my county now is very good. I don't want to go work elsewhere anymore. I'll stay in my hometown if the salary is good."

Ni Jun says, "the average salary in local firms surpasses 1000 yuan this year, while that outside the province is about 1200. The gap used to be 3 to 4 hundred, now it's only 2 hundred."

The narrowing gap makes local firms more attractive to job hunters. They are no longer anxious about getting enough employees.

Jiangxi's local enterprise says, "we need only 30 to 40 people, but 70 come to us now. We are very happy to have so many young workers. They have experience working outside, so it reduces our training cost."

Enterprises need to provide sufficient information about themselves and the jobs details. Job hunters now are very cautious. They want to find big, famous, and stable firms, that pay salaries on time.

Migrant workers fill in application forms at a job fair in Jiangxi's Wuyuan County February 2, 2009.

In Ganzhou City, a government-sponsored fair held after the Spring Festival had 30,000 jobs to fill. But that was far from enough to help 400,000 local residents who returned home after losing their jobs in cities.

In Xiushui county, more than 40 migrant workers have already found new jobs planting oil-tea camellia.

Fan Zhihuang, a migrant worker, said, "I earn about sixty to seventy yuan a day, which is almost the same as what I made in the city. And it's more comfortable staying at home. The work does not require too much technical skills."

Some farmers believe that 2009 will be the toughest year since 2000 as a result of declining agricultural commodity prices. But the central government has said it will offer extra subsidies and provide more advanced technology in addition to improving public services for farmers.