2 Chinese Export Regions Face Severe Labor Shortages.

BEIJING -- Two of China's main export manufacturing areas are suffering from an acute shortage of migrant workers, giving laborers more leverage over wages and curtailing the expansion plans of some companies, according to a report published Monday in China Daily, an official English-language newspaper. The shortfall is especially severe in the service and manufacturing industries. The regions most affected, both of them coastal, are the Pearl River Delta, in the southern province of Guangdong, and the Yangtze River Delta, near Shanghai. The Pearl River Delta could be short by as many as 900,000 workers, China Daily reported, citing a recent survey by the human resources department of Guangdong. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]