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Tang Haiyang, 29, is both excited and worried: his wife will be giving birth in about a month's time, and he cannot find a nanny.

 

"I'm always very busy and I'll be even busier before the Spring Festival." said Tang, who is a sales manager for a local food firm. "I don't think I'll have much time to look after her and a full-time nanny will be very necessary for me."

 

Tang said he has approached almost all the top housekeeping agencies in Guangzhou, capital city of south China’s Guangdong Province, but to no avail.

 

Many Guangzhou people are in the same predicament as Tang - a shortage of nannies or housekeepers as the Spring Festival nears.

 

"At least 60 percent of the city's more than 400,000 childcare workers or housekeepers have gone back home for family reunions and won't get back until after the Lantern Festival, which follows the Spring Festival," said Chen Ting, president of Guangdong Household Management Association.

 

Chen said the problem is more severe this year as a growing number of couples who got married in 2006 will be giving birth.

 

For many Chinese, the Lunar Year of 2006 was an auspicious one for marriage and this year for giving birth, Chen said.

 

"That is why many more people got married in 2006 and this year will see a baby boom," he said.

 

According to sources about 70,000 couples got married in Guangzhou last year, more than 40 percent compared to 2005.

 

Chen said he receives on average 110 calls each day for full-time nannies or housekeepers and the calls will increase with the approach of the Lunar New Year.

 

He said at present there is a shortage of 120,000 nannies and housekeepers.

 

"We are making good use of local workers to meet the demand, and we have tried our best to persuade these workers to stay by offering pay rises and bonuses," said Tian Xin, general manager of Guangzhou Zhengxianghe Housekeeping Service Co, one of the largest suppliers of household staff in Guangzhou.

 

Like Guangzhou, many big cities in China, for similar reasons, are also in need of nannies and housekeepers. They include Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

 

The shortfall is about 100,000 in each city.

 

(China Daily January 3, 2007)