Right now, their status falls through the social safety net: their residence status say they are peasants, or 农村户口，and they are likely back in the countryside already. Therefore, their old employers, and the government(s) in the city or province where they used to work, are reluctant to sign on to some kind of compensatory plan. Yet the local governments in rural areas mostly don't have the resources to help them either.
In the context, there's been reports (e.g. 工会将开展小额贷款担保试点帮助农民工创业) recently that the government-run Labor Union will start pilot programs where the Union will offer guarantee on small loans for enterprising former laborers now back home.
Whether the Union is qualified to play such a role is uncertain. However, I have no doubt this is a worthwhile experiment.
Here is an excerpt from the article:
针对金融危机中受到影响的农民工，全总将从５亿元中央财政困难职工帮扶专项资金中拿出一定比例，用于农民工就业援助和帮扶服务，并要求各地方工会也要加大投入，相应配套资金用于农民工援助行动
