"China could issue a series of policies in the next five years
giving nearly 200 million migrant workers more rights (to live and
work) in cities," Chen Huai, director of the Policy Research
Center under the Ministry of Construction, said at a China-EU
regional economy development seminar on May 16.
Chen added that the general plan is to "synthetically improve"
the bearing capacity of cities to accommodate this floating
population, in accordance with the central government's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), its social
and economic development blueprint.
Fan Gang, director of the Research Center for National Economy
under the China Reform Foundation, and Wang Yiming, vice director
of the Macro-economics Research Center under the National
Development and Reform Commission, expressed their support for
these proposed policies.
Wang pointed out that the current system of household
registration and social insurance policies in cities hinder the
movement of this workforce.
Perhaps signaling a move in the right direction, Wang Guangtao, minister of construction,
announced on May 10 that certain discriminatory rules governing the
employment of migrant workers in cities, and unreasonable
restraints on their movement and urban resident status would be
canceled.
According to Fan, transferring surplus labor from rural areas to
cities can help to narrow regional economic disparities. This is
because much of the income earned by migrant workers is remitted to
their families in the countryside.
In 2004, migrant workers sent home almost 300 billion yuan
(US$37.50). In 2005, they remitted as much as 330 billion yuan
(US$41.25).
"The transfer of labor is the most practical solution because it
is unrealistic to build development zones everywhere in our
country. It is impossible to develop the inland cities using the
coastal city model," Fan said.
"The situation in China now is that cities are expanding faster
than the workforce can be localized," Wang Guangtao said.
Currently, migrant workers and other people who are deemed to be
part of the floating population account for only 20 to 30 percent
of registered urban householders. This is despite the fact that
they might outnumber locals by as much as 4:1 in some relatively
developed cities. Moreover, there are between 150 and 200 million
people who are ready and willing to be transferred to the cities to
work.
"These floating populations have not been able to take root in
the cities because of current policies," Wang said. "They are a
critical part of a city's development, but they are not given their
fair share of the benefits of that development. For instance, they
are not covered by the same social insurance system that applies to
locals."
Further, a stronger yuan might slow down export trade in the
Pearl River Delta, a region that employs hundreds of
thousands of migrant workers from Sichuan Province. If exports slow, many of
these workers could find themselves unemployed and forced to return
to the countryside, putting even more pressure on local
administrations.
Wang stressed that it is therefore crucial that policies
relating to the employment and treatment of migrant workers in
cities be revised as soon as possible.
"The cities are growing stronger and stronger economically. A
system of equal employment opportunities in urban and rural areas
should be implemented to protect the legitimate rights and
interests of migrant workers in the cities," he said.
Some of the measures he has suggested include:
- Modifying the rules relating to employment and
application for residence status in cities;
- Allowing migrant workers to choose where to work and live;
- Developing training programs for migrant workers;
- Giving children of migrant workers equal access to
education;
- Helping them solve housing problems, providing assistance if
they wish to buy or rent property;
- Improving the management system of the floating
population;
- Offering resident status to migrant workers if they have stable
incomes and fixed accommodations.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiaohua, May 22, 2006)