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Monday 14 February 2011
Registration scheme could end in 20 years
The central government could end the mainland’s household registration system that controls the movement of migrant workers within 20 years, according to a top government think tank.
The central government could end the mainland’s household registration system that controls the movement of migrant workers within 20 years, according to a top government think tank.
Lu Mai, secretary general of the China Development Research Foundation, said his group advised the government to phase out the hukou system of residency permits over two decades by assimilating 20 million migrants a year into cities, where they could build their own homes and schools.
“We have 200 million migrants who left their hometowns for coastal cities or large cities,” Lu said.
“Policies towards the migrants changed in the late 1990s as the government became aware that the whole system was supported by such migrant workers. And so [then] Premier Zhu Rongji said we should treat them fairly and policies then changed step by step,” he said.
As a result migrant workers are now free to choose their jobs, but they are not covered by the social welfare system.
“One suggestion is that we abolish the system overnight. But in reality we need to think first about how to build the infrastructure - the houses, schools and hospitals - and also how to provide jobs,” Lu said.
A report by the foundation, which is affiliated with the State Council, suggested the government integrate 20 million migrants a year over the next 20 years.
“We hope to start next year. This is the only way to develop the domestic market, to achieve social equity,” he said.
The registration scheme began in 1958 in a bid to limit the movement of workers from rural to big urban areas.
Permits were assigned according to whether people were from the countryside or other smaller cities. Benefits such as housing rights, health care, education and pensions are tied to where the family is registered, and although people are free to work in different cities they are not entitled to health care, housing rights or schools.
Under the new proposals, families would be able to follow the key breadwinner to the cities and new towns, where schools and homes would be provided along with doctors.
As the mainland modernises the distinction between a city and agricultural registration is set to disappear. Professor Tian Xueyuan, at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said this process was already under way. “A lot of cities are experimenting in many ways to change farmers into city residents. In some provinces the distinction between agricultural and non-agricultural registrations have gone to be characterised as residence registrations,” Tian said.
“Urbanisation is a trend in modernisation and based on Western development history, China needs to have more than 60 per cent of its population living in the cities. At the moment, it’s 47 per cent.”
Meanwhile, many newly emerging cities face shortages of workers as the effects of the one-child policy start to filter through to the labour market.
In 2007, a study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences warned that the country would begin to face a labour shortage by 2010, even in the countryside.
Last year, the chief China economist for Standard Chartered Bank, Stephen Green, said the numbers of college hopefuls taking the entrance examination peaked in 2008. This occurred despite parents having the money to send their children to universities and enrol their children for the exam.
“Removing the system will add to business costs and some might resist it. But we are moving to a whole new situation where some time in the near future there’s going to be a turning point in the labour market where labour surplus becomes a shortage,” said Stephen Joske, a senior analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit in Beijing.
“Already in Guangdong, businesses are offering better packages, including health and education benefits.”
Lu said the government was working on estimated costs of 200,000 yuan (HK$235,800) per worker per year to move its migrant labour force. “We expect the money to be spent on things such as schools and hospitals,” he said.
“Think about it - you need to provide 20 square metres for one person; and in the city one sqmetre is at least 10,000 yuan. So we estimate that probably 80,000 to 100,000 yuan per capita will be needed in general for those people to relocate.”
On the eve of each Lunar New Year, as migrant workers head home for the most important of the year’s annual festivals, it becomes clear how many of China’s millions already do not live in their hometowns.
Ticket scalpers are able to charge 10 times the face value of train tickets as demand soars before the seven-day holiday, often the only time during the year that migrant workers are able to return home.
“If we get ill we just have to try to sort it out ourselves,” said Lao Xi, 57, who moved to Beijing with her husband from Anhui province in 1998 because life as a farmer was too hard. Their son moved with them, and now washes dishes in a restaurant. Their daughter stayed in Anhui.
The couple work seven days a week outside one of Beijing’s residential compounds, emptying bins and taking the rubbish to city dumps in their carts.
At night, they share a dormitory with four others in the basement of the compound, where there are no windows and minimal kitchen and bathroom facilities.
They have Anhui registrations, but have no plans to return soon.
“We will go back when we retire, because there will be nowhere here to live,” Lao said. “But we will have to work as farmers again there.”
Mei Lin works in a clothing store in Beijing’s Haidian district. She is from Henan. “I am 28. I came to Beijing three years ago because there is more work,” she said. “My hukou is in Henan but that’s okay, I don’t need one here. If I’m ill I just have to pay for treatment and my boss rents a room for me to live in.
“I don’t know about the future. I’ll have to go back, I suppose.”
Lui said an increasing number of young people were joining the city’s labour force.
“We don’t have the exact figures but usually the young don’t want to stay in the villages and work in the fields. It’s a huge social change. Now the urban and city governments need to think about that.”
2 comments:
Registration scheme could end in 20 years
Debbie Mason in Beijing
14 February 2011
The central government could end the mainland’s household registration system that controls the movement of migrant workers within 20 years, according to a top government think tank.
Lu Mai, secretary general of the China Development Research Foundation, said his group advised the government to phase out the hukou system of residency permits over two decades by assimilating 20 million migrants a year into cities, where they could build their own homes and schools.
“We have 200 million migrants who left their hometowns for coastal cities or large cities,” Lu said.
“Policies towards the migrants changed in the late 1990s as the government became aware that the whole system was supported by such migrant workers. And so [then] Premier Zhu Rongji said we should treat them fairly and policies then changed step by step,” he said.
As a result migrant workers are now free to choose their jobs, but they are not covered by the social welfare system.
“One suggestion is that we abolish the system overnight. But in reality we need to think first about how to build the infrastructure - the houses, schools and hospitals - and also how to provide jobs,” Lu said.
A report by the foundation, which is affiliated with the State Council, suggested the government integrate 20 million migrants a year over the next 20 years.
“We hope to start next year. This is the only way to develop the domestic market, to achieve social equity,” he said.
The registration scheme began in 1958 in a bid to limit the movement of workers from rural to big urban areas.
Permits were assigned according to whether people were from the countryside or other smaller cities. Benefits such as housing rights, health care, education and pensions are tied to where the family is registered, and although people are free to work in different cities they are not entitled to health care, housing rights or schools.
Under the new proposals, families would be able to follow the key breadwinner to the cities and new towns, where schools and homes would be provided along with doctors.
As the mainland modernises the distinction between a city and agricultural registration is set to disappear. Professor Tian Xueyuan, at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said this process was already under way. “A lot of cities are experimenting in many ways to change farmers into city residents. In some provinces the distinction between agricultural and non-agricultural registrations have gone to be characterised as residence registrations,” Tian said.
“Urbanisation is a trend in modernisation and based on Western development history, China needs to have more than 60 per cent of its population living in the cities. At the moment, it’s 47 per cent.”
Meanwhile, many newly emerging cities face shortages of workers as the effects of the one-child policy start to filter through to the labour market.
In 2007, a study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences warned that the country would begin to face a labour shortage by 2010, even in the countryside.
Last year, the chief China economist for Standard Chartered Bank, Stephen Green, said the numbers of college hopefuls taking the entrance examination peaked in 2008. This occurred despite parents having the money to send their children to universities and enrol their children for the exam.
“Removing the system will add to business costs and some might resist it. But we are moving to a whole new situation where some time in the near future there’s going to be a turning point in the labour market where labour surplus becomes a shortage,” said Stephen Joske, a senior analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit in Beijing.
“Already in Guangdong, businesses are offering better packages, including health and education benefits.”
Lu said the government was working on estimated costs of 200,000 yuan (HK$235,800) per worker per year to move its migrant labour force. “We expect the money to be spent on things such as schools and hospitals,” he said.
“Think about it - you need to provide 20 square metres for one person; and in the city one sqmetre is at least 10,000 yuan. So we estimate that probably 80,000 to 100,000 yuan per capita will be needed in general for those people to relocate.”
On the eve of each Lunar New Year, as migrant workers head home for the most important of the year’s annual festivals, it becomes clear how many of China’s millions already do not live in their hometowns.
Ticket scalpers are able to charge 10 times the face value of train tickets as demand soars before the seven-day holiday, often the only time during the year that migrant workers are able to return home.
“If we get ill we just have to try to sort it out ourselves,” said Lao Xi, 57, who moved to Beijing with her husband from Anhui province in 1998 because life as a farmer was too hard. Their son moved with them, and now washes dishes in a restaurant. Their daughter stayed in Anhui.
The couple work seven days a week outside one of Beijing’s residential compounds, emptying bins and taking the rubbish to city dumps in their carts.
At night, they share a dormitory with four others in the basement of the compound, where there are no windows and minimal kitchen and bathroom facilities.
They have Anhui registrations, but have no plans to return soon.
“We will go back when we retire, because there will be nowhere here to live,” Lao said. “But we will have to work as farmers again there.”
Mei Lin works in a clothing store in Beijing’s Haidian district. She is from Henan. “I am 28. I came to Beijing three years ago because there is more work,” she said. “My hukou is in Henan but that’s okay, I don’t need one here. If I’m ill I just have to pay for treatment and my boss rents a room for me to live in.
“I don’t know about the future. I’ll have to go back, I suppose.”
Lui said an increasing number of young people were joining the city’s labour force.
“We don’t have the exact figures but usually the young don’t want to stay in the villages and work in the fields. It’s a huge social change. Now the urban and city governments need to think about that.”
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