Shenzhen authorities reported 48 cases of company bosses absconding without paying wages in the last three months of 2008, involving a total of US$4.39 million, the South China Morning Post reported, citing state media. Shenzhen police said that by the end of last year, 370 firms had defaulted on paying US$14.9 million in wages to 39,200 workers. Wage disputes are seen as being a major source of unrest, especially in Shenzhen, where 5.6 million migrant workers lived in November 2008, according to the Guangzhou Daily. State media reported that the city’s Labor and Social Security Bureau was monitoring companies that were a month behind paying workers. The Shenzhen government also asked companies to place money in an insolvency fund so that the government can pay workers if the companies fold. The city has developed a blacklist of companies that do not pay workers or delay payments. Blacklisted companies cannot apply for government projects.