In Xi’an, house painters hit the streets to peddle their wares
XI’AN, Shaanxi — They arrive by the dozen, hundreds of them, every morning, pedaling eagerly to the corner of Feng Gao Xi Lu and Xi Er Huan Lu, looking something like hobo jousters, wooden poles topped with paint rollers strapped like lances to their rundown bicycles. They are ready to do battle for a day’s work. Because work for these men is never guaranteed.
When people need day laborers in the midwestern Chinese city of Xi’an, they don’t look in the Yellow Pages or classifieds, they head to a local street corner like this one, where workers will literally fight for the opportunity to earn RMB 50 ($6) a day.
Xi’an is an ancient walled city with a storied history. A couple thousand years ago, it was the center of the Chinese universe. It’s a popular launching spot for tourists interested in seeing the world-famous Army of Terracotta Warriors. In recent years, however, Xi’an’s large state-owned industrial sector has been hit hard by China’s nationwide economic restructuring. Between 1995 and 2002, 45 million Chinese workers were laid off, including 36 million from the state sector.
Some of the men waiting for work on the corner are “off duty” state-owned-enterprise employees, or xiagang. Most are peasant workers, nongmingong, the masses trapped in the rubble of China’s economic boom. But, either way, none of the men are officially considered unemployed by the Chinese government, thanks to some seriously flawed methods of calculating statistics.
Officially, China only counts as unemployed those who have registered for unemployment benefits with their local governments. “Off duty” SOE workers — so-called even though there is no “on duty” — are not considered unemployed because they are technically still the financial responsibility of their employer, even though xiagang from poorer SOEs receive next to nothing at all.
Most peasant workers are statistically invisible — they lack a hukou, the Chinese household registration system that ties each citizen to a specific city or town. Regardless, according to the Chinese government peasant or agricultural workers can never be unemployed: There is always farming to be done, and underemployment is not considered unemployment.
Xi’an’s registered unemployment rate is 3.2 percent, slightly lower than China’s official national average. But a recent statistical survey conducted by Michigan State University suggests that Xi’an’s actual unemployment rate is closer to 15.9 percent. The wide gap between the two figures is filled by China’s huge “floating population.” Estimates of this neither-unemployed-nor-employed population’s size range from 75 million to 130 million.
And these people are barely getting by. The street-corner painters of Xi’an never know when the next job will arrive.
“It’s a matter of luck,” said Mr. Wang, a 30-year-old painter-by-default. “I didn’t have any other job. Why would I like this job? I do this because the job requires no special skills.”
The prospective laborers gather at the intersection of Feng Gao Xi Lu and Xi Er Huan Lu — a site for hiring workers since ancient times — at 6 a.m., seven days a week. They stay until 6 p.m., or later. Clients arrive on foot, on bicycles or in cars. Jobs can be for a dozen men or one man. They can last for one month or one hour. Corners such as this one are found all over Xi’an, a city of close to 7 million.
“The daily wage varies,” Wang said. “Sometimes it’s RMB 50. Sometimes it’s RMB 20. We never know.”
Wang said 200 to 300 laborers, mostly painters, gather at the corner every morning. And the average worker gets four jobs a week. Out of a dozen workers questioned, all said they had wives and children to support and that they were the only money earners in the family.
“We make about RMB 1,000 ($120) a month,” Wang said. “We can just make ends meet. I don’t have to support the family. When we have to starve to death, we starve to death. I’m being truthful.”
Wang and the other painters actually have it better than most Shaanxi residents. Recent government statistics list the average urban monthly household income for Shaanxi at RMB 610 ($74). For rural Shaanxi households, the figure is much lower. For the first half of 2004, the average family earned a total of RMB 960 ($117). And China’s official statistics have a reputation for being inflated.
Wang’s corner is just a short walk from Xi’an’s five-star Sheraton Hotel, where foreign tourists often plunk down an entire month of Wang’s salary for one night’s stay.
Days on the corner are generally relaxed while men wait for work to come knocking. Some sit and chat. Others play cards. Several sleep on the pavement, using a wooden trowel as a pillow. But when a client arrives, things get serious. The client selects a group leader, who then is responsible for choosing the rest of the workers for the job.
“There are certainly arguments,” Wang said. “We often have fist fights for work.”
Although Xi’an has several legitimate paint contracting companies, Wang said he and his fellow laborers want to avoid the “restrictions” of working for an official outfit. And since the day laborers cater to a different clientele — individuals with limited funds — the big companies don’t view them as undercutting their business. In fact, Wang said, the contractors will often come to the corner in search of extra labor.
And to the thorny question of whether what the corner laborers do is legal, Wang laughed.
“Of course not,” he said. “But the Bureau of Labor looks the other way. We are the peasant workers, excess labor. The government would probably love to see all of this extra work.”
Stephen Frost of Asian Labour News contributed to this story.
Click here for photos.
Interviewing the interviewer: The painters asked as many questions as they answered. Here is a sampling of their queries, along with a couple of their related comments:
- Where do Americans go if they want their houses painted?
- Is it expensive to have an ad in the newspaper?
- How much per square meter do painters charge in America?
- Is there a big gap between the rich and the poor in America?
- At least in America all men are created equal.
- Are there many Americans who oppose the attacks on Iraq?
- Do American farmers get to elect their president?
- Our representatives don’t speak for us.
- Why is the United States in favor of the independence of Taiwan?
- Americans are the international police.
- Bush is too aggressive. What about Kerry?
- Are there jobless people in the United States?
8 Comments
It would be interesting to see your answers to the painters’ questions.
Your post is getting more interesting!
I have three cousins who are nongmingongs, two are painters in Shanghai and one is a constructor in Hangzhou. They need some media attention and attention from the chinese government as well. But I doubt they would get any. I hope your article show up in some big newspapers. I think, just my individual opion, this post derserves a place in The New York Times, or maybe a couple of pages of The New Yorker.
BTW, the painters in your article, despite their limited exposure of the world affairs, asked very intelligent questions.
News From GOOD OL’ USA - Philadelphia Inquirer
Editorial | “Income Inequality”
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/9461485.htm?1c
A gap that saps trust
Market economies are not fair.
They might be dynamic, creative and efficient. But it’s not their job to be fair. It’s their job to foster innovation and create wealth.
In America, it is the society’s job to be fair - with government playing a vital role.
Thanks to global trends that are not within any politician’s power to control, the American economy is distributing its rewards less evenly than it used to.
What is within politicians’ control is whether and how government acts to repair the damage and the injustice caused by these growing income gaps.
That, at base, is what the domestic strand of the presidential election dialogue is really about. Faced with income trends that cause many to lag while a few leap ahead, should the federal government simply shrug? Should it lead the cheers? Or should it work to soften the pain for those on the wrong side of the gap?
A new report by the U.S. Census Bureau proves what you always knew - the rich really are getting richer.
Other, recent government statistics also show that, even as the wealthiest Americans increase their share of the national wealth, they are paying a lighter share of the country’s overall tax burden.
In 1973, the wealthiest 20 percent of households earned 44 percent of total U.S. income. By 2002, the Census Bureau reports, the share of total wages for that wealthiest 20 percent had increased to 50 percent. The share of income of every other wage group fell during that span.
And since the Bush White House’s tax cuts began in 2001, the top 20 percent of U.S. taxpayers are paying almost 1 percent less of the overall share of total federal tax liabilities. Middle-income earners are paying almost 2 percent more of the total.
Democratic vice-presidential nominee John Edwards has spoken about “the two Americas.” Granted, he belongs to the richer one. Let’s stipulate that all four men on the major-party tickets this year are wealthy. It doesn’t make Edwards’ observation any less valid.
You know the gap is widening when Porsche sales are up 17 percent, but a fifth of the new jobs available to those in middle-income ranges are with temp agencies that rarely offer health benefits.
You know the gap is widening when some consumers are shelling out $1,700 for a washing machine that “talks” electronically to its companion dryer, but other citizens are working two jobs and skipping credit-card payments.
Average weekly wages are at their lowest point since October 2001, and wages are losing ground to inflation. The Labor Department reported last week that gasoline prices in the Philadelphia region are up 31.1 percent in the past year; grocery prices, 7.5 percent. Such increases in the cost of everyday necessities hit lower-wage earners harder.
There will always be a gap between “have” and “have-less.” Someone will always be in the lowest-income quintile. But when the gap between the groups widens, that wounds hope. It erodes social trust. It undermines the ideal of shared sacrifice needed to win wars abroad and conquer social ills at home.
A presidential campaign is the perfect forum to talk about how to address this growing inequity.
President Bush isn’t responsible for this income gap. Trends in the global economy have increased the premium earned by Americans with certain skills, while eliminating many formerly good-paying jobs. Such forces have been building for decades.
But Bush does not seem to care much about the gap; he pushes tax cuts and other policies that exacerbate it. As the Congressional Budget Office reported last week, one-third of Bush’s tax cuts have gone to people who earned an average of $1.2 million annually. In a second term, Bush wants to make permanent his tax cuts, which are set to expire in 2011.
Democratic nominee John Kerry, by contrast, has made addressing the income gap a central theme of his rhetoric and platform.
The Massachusetts senator wants to rescind Bush’s income-tax cuts for people earning $200,000 or more. He would use most of that revenue to pay for catastrophic health-care benefits and to extend health coverage to the uninsured.
Loss of health coverage is the hidden trapdoor for families inside the broader, so-so picture of job statistics. It’s true that people who lose one job often find another. The pay may even be comparable. If, however, as often happens, the new job lacks health coverage, that’s a disaster in waiting for many working families.
When they raise such issues, Democrats often get accused of waging class warfare. It is not class warfare to call attention to a deepening inequality and injustice. It is not class warfare to advocate policies that could restore the equal opportunity that is at the heart of the American dream.
The ones waging class warfare are those who ignore this widening gap or, worse, accentuate it.
Hey Dan,it is really nice to keep catching up with your long journey!You know what?As a Chinese your articles always give me complicated feelings,which make me feel like watching a documentary full of fun,smile,pity,worry,sadness or even shock.But you are experiencing real China.It is definitely a wise decision that you didn’t follow those tourism route. Well,looking forward to more!
I don’t know elsewhere in States, but here in Northern California, you saw lots of day labor workers waiting to be hired in front of large DIY stores such as Home Depots. Most of these workers, you guess it, are Hispanic. It will be very interesting to see what kinds of answers these workers will give for Dan’s questions.
Enjoy Dan’s writing…
Likewise to the comment above, on the corner of my street in Queens, NY there are tons and tons of Hispanic painters waiting for work in front of a paint store. There’s also many waiting at the Home Depot near my house in the mornings, looking for a wide variety of work.
Great post!
This is somewhat belated, by here are my opinions to the painter’s questions (should anyone else care to know).
Where do Americans go if they want their houses painted? They do it themselves, hire a painter recommended from someone else, hire a painting company, or hire some Mexican day laborers.
Is it expensive to have an ad in the newspaper? Yes. Generally, even very small print ads start at $20-$40 US for a week.
How much per square meter do painters charge in America? I have no idea.
Is there a big gap between the rich and the poor in America? The big gaps only affect a relatively small percentage of the population. Most people live in economic bands with incomes that are about 2-10 times the size of each other, not the 100 - 1,000 times size difference you see in China.
At least in America all men are created equal.
The Constitution of the U.S. is what Americans are most proud of. We bind ourselves to it, and most importantly, we make sure our officials are bound it it.
Are there many Americans who oppose the attacks on Iraq? Many, many oppose.
Do American farmers get to elect their president?
Every citizen has the right to participate in elections, although no citizen directly elects the president. Instead, citizens elect other citizens to vote on their behalf (the electorate college system).
Our representatives don’t speak for us. Political accountability is hallmark of the U.S. Constitution.
Why is the United States in favor of the independence of Taiwan? Because Taiwan has a political system more like the U.S., one where it is more difficult for power to concentrated in the hands of a few individuals.
Americans are the international police. International peace benefits Americans as well as the world as a whole.
Bush is too aggressive. What about Kerry? Bush is too aggressive. Kerry is not likely to be as much of a war monger, but that is moot now.
Are there jobless people in the United States? Yes, but U.S. has government network program to help jobless. Most people are jobless, because they cannot find work comparable to what they were doing before or what the want to do. However, there are many, many jobs that go unfilled that people do not want to take because they feel it is beneath them. They would rather collect government benefits then take these jobs. That is why there are so many illegal immigrants in the U.S. They take the jobs (mostly manual labor jobs) the most “jobless” people don’t want.