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Migrant workers in China

Migrant workers in China
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Migrant workers in China. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
Visitors select blind boxes at a cultural industries fair in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on May 22. Photo: Xinhua
China economy

Opinion | Time for China to set an explicit household consumption target

As Beijing’s five-year plan shapes up to follow a familiar agenda, policymakers need to focus on invigorating the consumer’s role as a more powerful driver of growth.

China society

My Take | China’s pension system needs an overhaul since it is not fair nor sustainable

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Urban planning

China’s dated urban-development model must change, Beijing says at rare meeting

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China economy

Opinion | More of China’s spending power needs to be unleashed. Here’s how

Childcare, healthcare and elderly care are precisely the parts of China’s consumer demand that remain significantly untapped.

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People visit a popular shopping district near Jingan Temple in Shanghai on October 12. Photo: AP
China food security

China sees ‘strong agriculture’ in its future with rural modernisation plans

By 2035, China will have ‘basically achieved’ agricultural modernisation, and rural residents will have ‘basically met modern living conditions’, Beijing’s new plan says.

China's population

China’s workers flock to Shenzhen and Hangzhou as talent war heats up

The two tech hubs saw their populations swell in 2024, defying China’s broader demographic decline.

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Lunar New Year

China boosts train and bus services as workers cut Lunar New Year travels short

Chinese provinces launch extra transport services as migrant workers return to coastal cities to get a leg up in sluggish job market.

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Travellers line up to board a train at a railway station in the east China city of Nantong in Jiangsu province on Monday ahead of Lunar New Year. Photo: AP
China's population

How will plans for China’s rural areas adapt to shrinking populations?

Annual national rural work conference sets out priorities for rural planning and construction as urbanisation gathers pace.

China’s Communist Party

Chinese county grapples with how to reward workers for difficult, low-level jobs

Report finds frontline workers overwhelmed leaving ‘little time or energy for systematic learning or professional development’.

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China jobs

Wary of ‘vicious’ events, China makes migrant worker arrears a priority

Social harmony takes centre stage after high-profile killings, and China’s cabinet says the unpaid salaries of migrant labourers require political action.

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China’s migrant workers accounted for about 21 per cent of the population last year. Photo: AFP
China's population

Chinese cities ease residency requirements as ‘war for people’ heats up

City governments have adopted a ‘hukou for home’ strategy as the competition for talent intensifies.

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Migrant workers wait to board a train at Dingxi North Railway Station in Dingxi, Gansu province, on February 19. Photo: Xinhua
Children in China

China to build migrant children database to improve welfare and services

National action plan meant to ease the plight of these children, particularly the disabled and those without guardians

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China education

China’s urban-rural gap is a threat to growth. Is the divide too wide to fix?

Researchers report waning optimism about social mobility among rural Chinese as education disparities create obstacles for economy.

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Social media

China’s ‘self-taught philosopher’ finds viral fame brings mixed blessings

Former factory worker Chen Zhi reflects on new life as a ‘brain worker’, his first published translation and facing his online critics.

Former migrant worker Chen Zhi says he has more time for “philosophy and thinking” since taking a role as a journal editor at a vocational college. Photo: Sohu
US immigration

Inside Out | Fear of migrants needlessly inflaming tensions around global elections

International migration is a force for good that developed economies need, despite the protests of xenophobes and populists.

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A refugee stands in front of a tent at a camp inside the UN-controlled buffer zone that divides the north part of the Turkish-occupied area from the south Greek Cypriots at the Aglantzia area in Nicosia, Cyprus, on August 9. In a world where developed economies face dire demographic challenges, international migrants are likely to play a key role in continued economic growth. Photo: AP
China's population

Far from farms: China aims to energise economy with new urbanisation action plan

A five-year undertaking could see 70 per cent of all Chinese settled in large cities, with newly granted urban-residency status and benefits, to expand domestic demand and industrial upgrades.

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China’s third plenum

How China’s ‘breakthrough’ rural land reform could be a cash cow for farmers

Looking to give China’s economy a jolt, Beijing’s third plenum featured long-awaited plans that could make rural resources more valuable and address the rural-urban income gap.

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China property

As localities change their rules, is the end of China’s hukou system in sight?

As China’s local governments test changes to their household registration systems to entice homebuyers, some analysts have suggested this presages a national-level policy change.

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China’s millions of migrant workers could stand to benefit if national-level reform of household registration is carried out at an upcoming economic meeting. Photo: Xinhua
China's population

Chinese counties took 2 billion yuan from school meal funds to repay debt: audit

More than 100 counties involved in wrongdoing, State Council audit report tracking school meal subsidies for rural students finds.

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Trending in China

Row over China migrant worker living in tiny Shanghai cabinet for US$7 a month

An online “misinformation” controversy has been sparked after a viral video emerged of a migrant worker in China living in a tiny “cabinet” room in Shanghai, a city with some of the country’s most expensive rental properties.

Transport and logistics

China trade union and Logory Logistics sign truck drivers to collective contract

This marks the domestic freight transport industry’s first attempt to cover truckers’ rights on a nationwide scale.

The nationwide contract for truck drivers in mainland China promises to help protect the rights and interests of these workers. Photo: Shutterstock
China economy

China’s sluggish property sector may be shifting migrant worker demographics

Over-50s now make up almost a third of China’s vast migrant workforce, while the number aged under 30 has dropped over the past five years

The number of construction jobs for migrant workers fell last year amid the property sector crisis. Photo: EPA-EFE
China's population

Opinion | China’s urbanisation efforts draw to a close for most provinces and cities

The flow of domestic migrants is increasingly moving in the direction of the Greater Bay Area, the Yangtze River Delta and a handful of local economic hubs.

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China economy

Opinion | How reforming rural land rights can aid China’s common prosperity push

China finds itself in need of its latest landmark reform as the urban-rural divide keeps growing and the broader economy is seeking new sources of growth. One possible solution is finding better uses for rural land and giving farmers the same legal rights as urban residents to rent, transfer or mortgage their land.

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China society

Opinion | Boy’s death a reminder of China’s neglect of ‘left-behind children’

Detention of three teens over the death of a third – all ‘left-behind children’ – should prompt national reflection on their neglect, first by the parents, then by the state.

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Children play in the schoolyard of Chongshan Primary School in Longfu township, in southern China’s Guangxi, in 2015. Photo: AFP
China economy

Fixing the urban-rural gap? China weighs making ‘left-behind property’ tradeable

As China faces numerous questions over its economic viability in the long term, some are advocating for a removal of barriers to rural land trading to jolt growth back to previous heights.

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Some analysts have encouraged the opening of China’s rural land for trading to boost economic growth, but others are less convinced. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
Two Sessions 2024

Proposed reform would give China’s migrants urban home – and benefits to match

In his address to China’s top legislature, the country’s premier listed urban residency for migrant workers as a priority – a proposal which would grant access to better public services and tap a reservoir of demand in the process.

China's population

Emptying villages or job-scarce cities: rural Chinese have tough row to hoe

Chinese researchers have found the country’s rural population is struggling to keep up with their urban peers in terms of lifestyle, hampered by relative underdevelopment in social resources and a lack of job prospects in cities.

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