Three Economic Signals From the Pickle Index

　　Recently， the pickle index， a new way of tracking migrant workers through the salesof pickled vegetables， or zhacai， a popularand affordable food among China’s floatingpopulation， has aroused plenty of attention.The index reveals something fascinatingabout China’s migrant workers. More andmore migrant workers， who largely originatefrom China’s central and western regions and head toward the coastal areas for job opportunities，mostly for factory jobs， are now returning home in larger numbers.

　　The reason is that wages are growing at as lower pace along the coast comparedwith more inland regions， and job benefits aren’tso desirable.

　　The market share of Fuling zhacai，producedin the city of Chongqing， fell from 49 percent in 2007 to 29.99 percent in 2011，implying that few migrant workers are on the go.

　　Now that fewer migrants are leaving for the coast， China’s inland areas need to makeimprovements in public services and socials ecurity. According to media reports， officialsfrom the National Development and Reform Commission invented the index， which en ables them to discern population inflow andoutflow areas in hopes of form ulating policiesaccordingly.

　　For years， the energy-intensive and lowvalue-added manufacturing industry has absorbednumerous workers along the coast.Now， China is going through economicrestructuring and industrial upgrading. Anarray of factors， such as rising labor costs，declining overseas demand and the return ofmanufacturing to developed countries， havemade its original development mode unsustainable.The backflow of migrant workers willpush the new urbanization of central and western regions. Workers are the most important factor in production. The question ishow to retain these rural migrant workers intheir hometowns before they possibly leaveagain. In this sense， local governments incentral and western regions should strengthenefforts in promoting their respectivesocial security and healthcare systems， andeducation for their children.

　　It has been suggested that thelike sof the pickle index and beer index， asidefrom traditional economic indicators， canhelp common people become informed ofeconomic changes in a clearer， more vivid way. The emergence of the pickle indexindicates that traditional economic indexes should advance with the times， and get rid offalse reports and modifications， a commontrait among local politicians who routinely inflate economic figures in order to receive promotions.