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Nannies are an important group of the casual workers studied. In this article, six characteristics of the group are analyzed: the nature of their work and the personality characteristics of nannies; their age structure; reasons for working; marriage and family dynamics; their relationships with their employers; and their social networks. Analysis is by means of oral interviews with nannies in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The gender aggregation effect salient among nannies means that they are a purely female vocational group which increases the group's vulnerabilities and weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on migrant odd-job workers in Guangzhou. Beginning in the 1980s, wave after wave of migrant laborers have poured out of the country in search of work, and the Pearl River Delta, including Guangzhou, was the first to be affected. In 1988, the delta's migrant laboring population reached 5 million. In 1989, it was 3 million, in 1990, 4 million, in 1991, 5 million, in 1992, 6 million, and in 1993, an estimated 10 million or more. Migrant laborers take jobs shunned by local people, such as those with high labor intensity, in poor working environments, paying low wages, and of low social status. Odd-job workers refers to people among the migrant laboring population who free lance. They are not licensed as individual business proprietors, nor are they legally employed by different enterprises. They work in a variety of jobs, roughly divided into two categories. In the first category, they mainly sell their physical labor, similar to day (short-term) laborers. They do whatever jobs bosses give them, including moving earth, bricks, digging, and shoveling.