BEIJING — Chinese factories are racing to hire migrant workers laid off during the global crisis as they struggle to meet Christmas orders for Barbie dolls, iPods and designer jeans, say analysts and observers.

The surge in demand has caused a labour shortage in some parts of the country as factories ramp up production, but does not necessarily mean that China's key export sector is on the mend, they said.

"The shortage is primarily due to a short-term misalignment of demand and supply due to a sudden upswing in demand probably fuelled by the arrival of Christmas orders," Ren Xianfang, a Beijing-based economist at IHS Global Insight, told AFP.

"The high-level labour intensity of most of the export-oriented manufacturing industries means that either the reduction or increase of new orders will cause quite big swings in labour demand, which explains the sudden job losses and just as sudden resurgence of demand."

Nearly 20 million migrant workers lost their jobs at the start of the year as factories closed or slashed production in response to plummeting export orders from key markets in Europe and the United States.

While the government says 96 percent of those people have found new jobs in the cities, the still-weak export sector suggests many of them have gone into the construction industry or stayed home where economic conditions are improving thanks to massive government spending, analysts said.

"The country's interior provinces have benefited from fiscal stimulus projects and stronger local economies," said Ben Simpfendorfer, a Hong Kong-based economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

"The logic for travelling thousands of kilometres to a neighbouring province is thus less compelling."

In southern Guangdong province, China's manufacturing hub, factories are facing a "serious" labour shortage amid the flood of Christmas orders, said Xu Jiang, manager at the Hui'an Human Resources Service Centre in Dongguan city.

"Demand for workers is rising but many migrant workers did not come back from home (after being laid off)," Xu told AFP.

"Some simply will not come back here after finding a job at home."

Many migrant workers were choosing to stay home to take advantage of improved conditions created by the government's four-trillion-yuan (585-billion-dollar) stimulus package, unveiled last year, Xu said.

The workforce shortage has forced factories in Wenzhou, in eastern Zhejiang province, to offer free meals, air-conditioned dormitories and extra holidays to entice migrant staff, state media reported.

Wang Ouxiang, deputy secretary of the Employment Service Centre in Wenzhou, said there were 150,000 job vacancies in the city.

"Factories in the city are thirsty for labourers," Wang said.

Pressure on factory owners was more intense than usual this year, Simpfendorfer said.

Foreign retailers had delayed placing Christmas orders until September due to the uncertain economic outlook and were demanding shorter delivery times so they could keep inventory levels low, he explained.

"Orders have been bunched into a single month -- they usually start coming in as early as July," he said.

"The labour shortages are not necessarily a sign of a fast recovering export sector, and while export orders have strengthened, they may yet relapse."

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