An acute shortage of skilled workers is costing leather garment factories in the Chinese city of Hainang millions of dollars in lost export revenue, local reports say.  Located at the heart of the economic powerhouse region of eastern Zhejiang, the city is home to an estimated 2,000 leather clothing enterprises producing 60,000 items daily. But a dearth of skilled technicians means output is being badly affected.

Some idea of the lengths to which local employers will go to to secure skilled workers is provided by the fact when people started to return to the city after the SARS outbreak had died down, the railway station was besieged by local bosses, all of them eager to sign up skilled arrivals.

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