China's top labor official has ordered local human resources and social security departments to make sure migrant workers are paid on time before the upcoming New Year and Spring Festival holidays.

Speaking at a meeting on Monday, Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, said the departments should conduct strict company inspections to ensure migrant workers' pay is not delayed.

Enterprises in the construction industry and those in the labor-intensive manufacturing sector, which absorb most of the migrant workers, will be targeted to ensure workers receive their full wages, he said.

Local human resources and social security departments were asked to provide a complaints procedure for workers to report if their wages have been delayed or unreasonable deductions have been taken from their paychecks.

Yin asked local authorities to resolve workers' disputes with their employers as soon as possible. Local departments should help protect the rights of workers by guiding them to settle disputes through mediation and legal channels, he said.

He also advised that emergency response mechanisms be set up to handle mass incidents over pay, such as strikes or physical conflicts.

According to Yin, the withholding of workers' wages is a major cause of labor disputes.

While local human resources and social security departments have made great efforts to ensure employers pay migrant workers on time, problems still remain.