One day last week, the welcoming committee sent by the world’s largest manufacturer of microwave ovens waited in vain outside the main railway station in Guangzhou, capital of China’s southern Guangdong province.

Liu Tingting, a recruiting executive with Galanz, chatted with a dozen uniformed colleagues as migrant workers exiting the station streamed past them. All were wearing red and yellow sashes emblazoned with the message that “Galanz welcomes you”. But there were few new recruits to welcome.

“The global financial crisis has eased and orders are coming back, but the labour shortage is relatively severe,” Ms Liu said, admitting that her team’s effort was an unusual one. “We don’t usually come to the train station to look for workers.”