Twenty recruiters sit at fold-up tables by a canal that separates two rows of shoe and handbag factories in Dongguan. Hoardings tout monthly wages of Rmb1,800 to Rmb2,800 ($445) at a shoe factory and more at a technology company – but the alfresco jobs fair lacks one thing: workers.

The weeks after Chinese new year, celebrated towards the end of January, are typically the busiest period for jobs. But recruiters in this part of the southern industrial city of 8.2m people outnumber potential employees by about four to one.

An hour’s train ride away near Shenzhen, the special economic zone bordering Hong Kong, the scene is startlingly different. A queue of 1,000 workers await interviews at Foxconn, Taiwanese maker of mobile phones and computers for western brands, including Apple.