China's exports jumped more than 45 per cent in February from a year earlier, according to official figures, in a sign of recovering global demand.

But many factories in China's southern manufacturing heartland are facing an unusual problem – a worsening labour shortage.

Many migrant workers are not returning after the lunar new year holiday, while those who have returned are being very choosy.

The shortfall has some suggesting that the age of cheap and willing labour may be coming to an end.

Al Jazeera's Rob McBride reports from the city of Dongguan.