Workers Daily States New Incentives Needed To Retain Local Workers in Xinjiang

More than 200,000 of Xinjiang's most well-educated citizens have moved out of the autonomous region since 1979, according to a May 1 article in the Workers Daily. Post-secondary schools outside Xinjiang admit more than 10,000 Xinjiang students each year, and fewer than half return to the autonomous region after graduation. The article says Xinjiang has 493,000 technically trained workers, just over half of whom are minorities.

The Xinjiang government once required all government employees wishing to transfer to the interior to purchase a "Xinjiang Exit Permit." This system was abolished in 2003. The Workers Daily article argues the Xinjiang government needs to increase incentives for workers to remain in the region rather than recruit workers from outside. The government has been offering bonuses to Han Chinese willing to work in the Uighur Autonomous Region since 1949, though the push to bring more Han into the area has increased greatly since the government launched the "Go West" campaign in 2000. The government emphasizes that Han Chinese are needed first to assure the security of the region and then to promote economic development and cultural exchanges. Many Uighurs and outside analysts report that ethnic Han Chinese are favored in hiring practices throughout Xinjiang, although the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law explicitly forbids such discrimination.