Once the Spring Festival holiday was over, various regions saw a peak in migrant workers returning to their posts. The special return-to-work trains, buses, and flights organized by various local departments shuttled frequently along the busy transportation lines. As a major labor-exporting province, Guizhou has long maintained a dynamic rural migrant workforce of around 6 million people working outside the province. Migrant work income accounts for more than 40% of total rural household income and over 70% of the income of households lifted out of poverty. A large number of migrant workers rush to workplaces thousands of miles away after the holiday, and some still need to find jobs. How can they be helped?

Tang Hongyao is a resident of Lutun Community, Lutun Town, Xingyi City, Qianxinan Prefecture, Guizhou. His family was impoverished a few years ago. In recent years, he and his wife have worked in Guangdong, and their family situation has changed considerably. Migrant work is the main source of income for Tang Hongyao's family, but working away from home also brings its own troubles.

Tang Hongyao, resident of Lutun Community, Lutun Town, Xingyi City, Qianxinan Prefecture, Guizhou: "We couldn't get tickets. In the past, going out to work was very difficult, and coming back was also very difficult."

Around the Spring Festival, round-trip tickets are a problem. In the past, Tang Hongyao had to take a bus to Xingyi Railway Station and queue for tickets, often failing to get them. He could not return by the agreed return-to-work date, which affected the company's production—very frustrating. In 2021, Qianxinan Prefecture began operating special return-to-work trains, which brought Tang Hongyao considerable convenience.

Guizhou is mountainous with little arable land. Working away from home is one of the main ways for villagers living in the mountains to increase their income, so local governments also encourage surplus rural labor to work outside. By pooling rural revitalization衔接 funds, East-West cooperation funds, and funds from out-of-province enterprises recruiting on site, Qianxinan Prefecture formulated preferential return-to-work policies, including a per-capita cross-province work travel subsidy of 500 yuan, and organized special return-to-work trains, buses, and flights. However, the migrant workforce is huge and scattered, making organization difficult.

Yang Yunxia, passenger transport duty officer at Xingyi Railway Station, Qianxinan Prefecture, Guizhou: "Because running special trains on various routes during the Spring Festival is quite busy, we have to apply and report in advance, then get approval. Only after the whole process is completed can we reply to the human resources and social security department."

How many returning workers can one special train carry? How many carriages should be attached? Which day should it run? How many trips? These questions all require advance contingency plans and overall coordination.

Liu Caifu, Party Secretary and Director of the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of Xingyi City, Qianxinan Prefecture, Guizhou: "We take advantage of East-West cooperation opportunities to strengthen coordination with labor-receiving places such as Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang, especially by using local leading human resources companies, mobile Party branches established there, and labor cooperation stations."

He Yucheng, Director of the Employment Bureau of Qianxinan Prefecture, Guizhou: "Before the holiday, we monitored labor returning home. More than 230,000 migrant workers returned home for the festival. According to the monitored intentions, over 90% planned to return to their original posts."

Starting January 1, the survey work was continuously refined through dynamic adjustments, and adjustments continued even during the Spring Festival. In January, the initial figure for those planning to return home was 231,600. As of February 9, New Year's Eve, the actual number of migrant workers who returned home was 237,100, and 231,200 planned to return to work after the Spring Festival.

In January, relevant departments set up more than 800 return-to-work employment service points at airports, high-speed rail stations, bus stations, railway stations, and highway service areas, receiving over 40,000 inquiries. This year, they also developed the "Return-to-Work Express" app, posting its QR code in places visible to people in rural communities. Tang Hongyao and his wife saw the QR code for the "Return-to-Work Express" app and booked sleeper berths on the February 19 special return train to Guangdong. Plans cannot keep up with changes: many people who planned to work outside booked berths on special trains but then had last-minute matters that changed or canceled their trips.

Yang Yunxia, passenger transport duty officer at Xingyi Railway Station, Qianxinan Prefecture, Guizhou: "There is a lot of uncertainty about personnel. Today we may have issued someone's ticket, and tomorrow he may feel his itinerary has changed and need a refund. We have to communicate repeatedly with the human resources and social security bureau, confirm the newly added people, and then issue tickets for them."

To encourage returning migrant workers to go back to work, Qianxinan Prefecture pooled funds from various sources and established a cross-province work travel subsidy of 500 yuan per person. The subsidy is calculated per person; if someone does not go, it must be given to someone else who will go, and the hard-won special trains should be fully utilized, with as few empty seats as possible.

If someone suddenly changes plans and does not go, the reason must also be clarified. Officials from human resources and social security, employment, and township departments still have to visit them at home to do the work. One villager booked a special train ticket to Guangzhou before the holiday, and her husband had already taken the Guangzhou special train back to work. Because the new house at home had just been renovated and still needed tidying up, she temporarily canceled the trip and planned to go to Guangdong to join her husband after the Lantern Festival. Another villager booked a special train ticket to Guangdong before the holiday, but before departure, because an elderly family member was in poor health, he hesitated repeatedly and finally canceled the trip. After learning the situation, township officials planned to find and recommend a nearby job for him. On the one hand, convenience is provided; on the other hand, villagers going out to work for the first time also need help finding suitable jobs.

Working away from home remains an important way for villagers to increase income. In the past two years, relying on the East-West labor cooperation mechanism and labor cooperation stations stationed outside the province, Qianxinan Prefecture has collected labor demand from various places. Before the Spring Festival, it had accumulated and reserved 213,100 valid job openings. Through various recruitment events held every week, it has built a supply-demand matching platform for enterprises to recruit and for people to find jobs. Since January, more than 50,000 people have participated in 95 online and offline job fairs.

Fang Hong has no experience working away from home and has always run a small business at home. Business was poor last year, so he thought about working outside, but the thought of so many difficulties made him hesitate. Before the Spring Festival, he and his wife saw recruitment information from government departments.

Fang Hong, villager of Louna Village, Dingxiao Subdistrict, Xingyi City, Qianxinan Prefecture, Guizhou: "At first we thought it wasn't very reliable. We asked, and they said it was organized by the government, so we believed it. Later, leaders from the human resources and social security department often called us, booked tickets for us, kept in touch, and explained in detail which factory to go to and what the job was. We felt it was feasible."

The human resources and social security department found Fang Hong a job in Guangdong. After repeated introductions and communication, they set Fang Hong's mind at ease. The couple booked sleeper berths on the Guangzhou special train and prepared to go out to work.

The Xingyi City Human Resources and Social Security Bureau arranged for officials to accompany the train. Their task was to ensure that all those going out to work for the first time or who had changed to a new employer this year were properly matched and settled. Zhang Wensheng is a staff member of the Foshan City Human Resources and Social Security Bureau in Guangdong, who brought employing enterprises to Guangzhou to meet the arrivals. Foshan and Guizhou have long maintained a labor cooperation relationship; last year, more than 80,000 migrant workers from Qianxinan Prefecture settled in Foshan.

Zhang Wensheng, business instructor of the Human Resources Market Department of the Foshan Human Resources Public Service Center, Guangdong: "Basically around the end of December before the holiday, we began organizing enterprises' labor demand. After the holiday, demand is reported to us. Through the human resources and social security channel, we contact local schools and surplus rural labor in Guizhou, actively guide enterprises to do a good job in retaining workers and winning their loyalty, and coach some enterprises in employee skills upgrading training."

Being able to resume work and production right after the Spring Festival holiday greatly reduces pressure on enterprises.

Zhang Bichao, Human Resources Manager of Foshan Silver Star Intelligent Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Guangdong: "Point-to-point matching through the government helps us quickly solve labor shortages, allowing us to quickly return to work and production and quickly resolve order production issues."

Cao Li, Human Resources Director of Guangdong Nanlv Construction Robot Technology Co., Ltd.: "The Foshan human resources and social security authorities organized our enterprise to visit, study, and exchange in Guizhou. The Guizhou human resources and social security authorities sent relevant workers thousands of miles to our enterprise by special train and shuttle bus, reducing the pressure on us in recruitment as well as financial and energy pressures."

Fang Hong and his wife, going out to work for the first time, moved into a couple's dormitory, which they had not expected. As of February 24, 192,100 people in Qianxinan Prefecture had returned to work.

What seems like a simple return-to-work express train required a great deal of detailed and tedious coordination by staff in both places to run smoothly. The point-to-point special trains and buses address migrant workers' difficulties on one end and focus on enterprises' needs on the other. The government has taken on extra worry so that migrant workers and enterprises can be more worry-free. Once this bridge is built, it not only benefits people's livelihoods but also boosts the economy. We hope there will be more such pragmatic measures.