Post Chinese New Year Labor Shortage in China

Digitimes is reporting a post Chinese New Year labor shortage of 2 million workers due to higher than expected demand combined with a lower than expected return rate of workers after their annual break.

This is not the first time we’ve heard rumors of a possible labor shortage; there has long been speculation that after the Chinese government’s very successful economic stimulus package that focused on outlying areas as opposed to the big cities, many workers would find work back home during their annual Chinese New Year break. Other speculation suggests that as the level of education and experience of Chinese consumers grows, more people want white color jobs rather than blue color (factory worker) jobs.

Whatever the cause, this could seriously affect motherboard availability in the coming months. A worrying thought as the desktop PC market enjoys it’s first major surge in years!