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To retain workers like Wei, the hometown of the migrants has taken measures to create job opportunities. In Luyi county, a clothing factory promised the same salary for migrants that they would receive in Guangdong. It also offered free accommodations and dinner, as well as social security subsidies and an annual bonus.

Wei Dongwei learned that he could find a job in the county seat about five kilometers away from his home, which offers a monthly salary of 2,300 yuan. This reinforced his determination to stay at home.

To lure more laborers, enterprises in eastern China raised salaries for migrants, as well.

Statistics from the employment administrative bureau of Yiwu, Zhejiang, showed that the lowest salary of ordinary workers there last year was 1,200 yuan to 1,500 yuan, which had since risen to 1,500 yuan to 2,000 yuan this year.

The Langsha Group, the leader in the hosiery industry, raised the salaries of workers by 20 to 30 percent, according to Weng Rongjin, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. Based in Yiwu, the company also encouraged 20 senior workers to solicit new laborers from their hometowns. Their travel expenditures would be reimbursed and they could receive an award of 200 to 300 yuan for each new worker they found.

More workers may be returning to the cities they had worked outside of their hometowns after Thursday, China's traditional Lantern Festival, or the last day of the Spring Festival celebrations.

In the meantime, others might pursue new options. For these groups, the competition between enterprises vying for laborers could lead to improvement in the working conditions on the part of migrants and more opportunities for as well.

Wu Yun, 25, had been haunting the recruitment fair for three days but refrained from signing a contract. "I don't worry at all. This year, the situation is optimistic and I want to find a job with the highest pay and the best working condition," said the man from southwest China's Yunnan Province.