China Perspective Issues
Li Shi
The Economic Situation of Rural Migrant Workers in China
This paper examines the current economic situation of rural migrant workers in China. The paper provides some descriptive statistics on their regions of origin, their destinations, and the sectors in which they are employed, as well as on their age, sex and level of education. The paper also discusses the difficult working conditions of many rural migrant workers in the Chinese labour market, in particular their low wages, the problems of wage arrears, the lack of written contracts, the long working hours, the inadequate social security coverage, and the difficulties they face in accessing public services.
Land Rights and Rural-Urban Migration in China
Collective ownership of agricultural land and the remains of the administrative management of rural economy have imposed considerable insecurity on the land use rights of Chinese farmers. This insecurity constrains the movement of rural people, who fear that migration will jeopardise what land use rights they do enjoy. In this paper we describe the idiosyncratic uncertainty of land use rights, and verify its influence on migration decisions, with a special focus on the duration of migration.