Beijing - Chinese labor dispute cases doubled last year, a byproduct of the economic slowdown and the country's new labor contract law, state media reported Saturday.

Citing figures released by Yang Zhiming, Vice Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, the official Xinhua news agency reported that 693,000 labor dispute cases were accepted by Chinese courts last year, up 98 per cent on the previous year.

The cases involved 1.2 million workers, Xinhua quoted Yang as saying.

That follows an earlier report in the state-run China Daily which said that 98,568 labor cases were filed in the first quarter of 2009, a 59 per cent increase on the same period last year.

The rise is being blamed both on the closure of thousands of factories across the country, as well as the adoption last year of a new Labor Contract Law.

Under the law, workers have more protection from unfair dismissal and it is now easier to lodge a case against an employer.

Official figures show at least 20 million migrant workers have lost their jobs since the economic crisis began last year.

According to local media, tens of thousands remain unpaid after many company bosses abandoned their factories and workers. (dpa)