Overall Strategy for Promoting the Citizenization of Rural Migrant Workers

Abstract

As China has rapidly industrialized since it began the process of reform and opening up, a great many farmers have shifted out of agriculture and are now working or studying and living in towns or cities, leading to a fast increase in China's Urbanization rate. However, given that reform of the hukou system has stagnated, as well as the fact that social security and public service systems prioritize urban areas over rural ones, rural migrant workers are not treated in the same way as native urban residents in terms of employment and welfare, despite being counted as part of the urban population. This has led to a low citizenization rate. As a result, a new dual structure consisting of rural migrant workers and native urban residents has come into being in Chinese cities at a time when the long-standing urban-rural dual structure has yet to be eliminated. This has severely hindered the building of a harmonious society and the urbanization of China. To remove such a dual structure as soon as possible, the Communist Party of China (CPC) made it clear in the report to the 18th CPC Congress that it would accelerate reform of the hukou system, systematically promote the citizenization of rural migrant workers, and endeavor to cover the entire permanent urban population with basic public services. Later on, the CPC announced at the Central Economic Work Conference that it would prioritize the systematic promotion of the citizenization of rural migrant workers. In this new situation, a key challenge in promoting and improving urbanization in China will be how to systematically promote the citizenization of rural migrant workers by adopting effective policies and measures.