China’s massive Lunar New Year travel rush began early this year with hordes of migrant workers streaming out of cities where jobs have dried up due to a slowing economy, state media said.

Lunar New Year for 2009 falls on Jan. 26, but the annual exodus is under way, with many of China’s millions of migrant labourers heading home to an uncertain future, Xinhua news agency said.

The Beijing West Railway Station logged 130,000 departing passengers Thursday, 38,000 more than the daily average, Xinhua quoted station authorities as saying.

It said officials "cited the lack of big construction projects in the capital city as the reason for the increased seasonal travel." Long queues also developed at railway hubs in the eastern commercial metropolis of Shanghai, with police dispatched to maintain order, it added.

State media said a record 2.3 billion passenger trips were expected during the Lunar New Year period.