Many parcel delivery companies are offering higher salaries and other incentives to lure workers returning from the Chinese New Year holiday. Many companies started recruiting more heavily, with some offering salaries up to CNY8,000 or extra subsidies. The average salary offered by delivery firms has been about CNY5,000, industry insiders said. Some salary offers are even pulling workers from other industries and regions. “Many local deliverymen are temporary workers and have no long-term contracts with the firms, so it is always difficult for the firms to call them back after holidays,” said Chen Guoqiang, Manager with YTO Express in Shanghai. While salaries may go up, workers may be working harder. Many online orders for holiday gifts, which boomed this year, have been waiting in warehouses because of the labor shortage. “The workload has been nearly doubled,” said He Rubin, a courier with TTK Express. Workers said some of those who didn’t go home for the holidays stopped working because of the heavy workload. The work was also more difficult because people weren’t at home to take deliveries during the holiday.