Retention has historically been a problem for many manufacturers in China, which rely on the country's vast migrant labor pool.

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In New Zealand, commercial-scale wineries are largely dependent on migrant labor.

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The Human Resources and Social Security Department of Guangdong estimated that 10 million workers, or 61% of the province's migrant-labor pool, would head home to see their families for the New Year Holiday, with a return rate of around 90%, leaving a labor shortfall of up to 1.2 million workers after the holiday.

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In 1996, the Labor Department accused DeCoster of maintaining "sweatshop conditions" for migrant workers at its Turner, Maine, chicken farm, where then-Labor Secretary Robert Reich said workers risked salmonella by handling dead chickens and manure with their bare hands.

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"Instead of a blanket ban on its own women that denies them important employment opportunities, Nepal's government should work with other labor-sending governments to demand stronger protections for migrant workers in the Gulf, " Varia said.

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Some inland provinces are holding job fairs to attract migrant workers back home, leading enterprises in coastal manufacturing hubs to fear increasingly serious labor shortages, and higher wages.

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