Opinion

Migrants deserve equal rights

By Chi Fulin (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-12 10:59

Even if 20 percent migrant workers enjoy same facilities as urban residents, they will boost growth by 1 percentage point

China's about 200 million migrant workers are a special social group, created by the country's social and economic transformation. But despite their great contribution to China's industrialization and urbanization for three decades, they have not received their fair share of the economic fruits.

Expediting the transformation of the country's economic growth model is a prime task of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015). The migrant workers' issue is closely related to many aspects of this task, including urbanization and bridging the gaps between urban and rural areas and between the rich and the poor.

Granting migrant workers equal rights with urban residency permits is important and should be listed as one of the binding objectives of the 12th Five-Year Plan.

Such a move would facilitate a consumption-led national economy.

Even if 20 percent of the more than 150 million rural people working far away from home become urban residents, the subsequent increase in urban consumption would boost the economic growth rate by 1 percentage point. Granting migrant workers rights equal to those enjoyed by urban residents can help accelerate the urbanization process, too. It will not only improve the rural production scale and efficiency, but also propel the growth of tertiary industries in cities.

The policy can produce an important effect on social stability as well. Migrant workers, especially second generation migrant workers, are finding it increasingly difficult to decide whether to stay in cities or return to the countryside because of the pressure of work and city life, and the obstacles in getting equal rights. This has become a destabilizing factor in society.

The country has seen three decades of rapid economic growth. Hence, the 12th Five-Year Plan period is the right time for the government to solve the problems of migrant workers once and for all. Breakthroughs can be achieved in economically developed regions first.

Migrant workers have become not only an important part of urban industrial labor force, but also a main source of rising populations in cities. Plus, the about 100 million second-generation migrant workers are playing a vital role in social and economic developments in urban areas.

China's fiscal revenue has increased rapidly in recent years, making it financially possible for the government to grant equal rights to migrant workers.

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During the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) period, policies on migrant workers' rights were well implemented, and we expect more migrant workers to get equal access to basic public services in urban areas in the future. In some developed areas like the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, where local governments have begun reform for migrant workers, breakthroughs can be expected in two to three years.

Technically speaking, the first step the government should take is to allow migrant workers to get hukou (house registration) in the cities they work. Such a policy can be applied in small- and medium-sized cities, say from 2011 to 2013, and extended gradually to larger cities in the next two years.

Local governments can take steps to improve public services after establishing equality in the hukou system. The government should promulgate relevant policies to ensure that migrant workers enjoy the same public services, including basic healthcare, which urban residents do. The policies should also ensure that migrant workers' children go to schools in cities where their parents work, instead of being forced to return home to the countryside for education.

The next important step would be to reform the land resources management, especially in places where migrant workers are sharecroppers. The first measure of reform should be stopping the practice of "land for social security", under which farmers have to forgo their land-use rights in exchange for social welfare.

The government should protect farmers' rights to enjoy the economic benefits that arise from trading in their land-use rights, including land transfers, rentals and mortgages. Local governments should set aside part of the profits they make from transfer of land-use rights to provide subsidized housing to migrant workers. That local governments have to spend 50 percent of the profits they make from land deals on subsidized housing for migrant workers should be included in the 12th Five-Year Plan. And a housing reserve system should be established to meet migrant workers' actual needs.

The author is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of Hainan-based China Institute for Reform and Development.