China to ensure migrants working in cities treated fairly
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China will make more efforts to eliminate employment policies that discriminate against migrant farmers working in cities to ensure their fair treatment, a Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) report said Thursday.
The ministry's report was given to lawmakers at the 18th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), which began Monday and ends Saturday.
Relevant authorities have been directed to improve employment environments and establish a standardized and open human resources market, said the report.
The report said measures, including increasing labor-intensive and service-sector jobs, have been adopted to give migrant workers more job opportunities.
The report also said China will boost modern agriculture and speed up the urbanization of rural towns.
China will also pay subsidies to enterprises that do not cut jobs.
There are 157 million farmers working in cities in China, which has a population of 1.3 billion.
The farmers work in cities and send money back to their families in underdeveloped rural China.
Migrant farmers in cities usually receive little pay, often less than urbanites doing the same job. Sometimes their bosses do not even pay them their due salary.
The report said migrant farmer workers earned more this year, with the average farmer worker salary up 13.7 percent year on year to 1,596 yuan (240 U.S. dollars) per month in the second quarter.
A total of 29 provinces, regions and municipalities raised the minimum wage by an average 24.1 percent this year, contributing to farmer workers' higher earnings.
All 31 mainland provinces, regions and municipalities have required employers leave a deposit in banks to guarantee farmer workers' salary payments.
According to the report, the Ministry of Public Security, the National Development and Reform Commission and the MHRSS are working on advancing reform of the household registration system, known as "hukou."
Authorities will work to lift restrictions on household registration in small- and medium-sized cities and townships to allow migrant farmers to enjoy the same rights as urban residents, the report said.
The report said governments in Shanghai, Chongqing, Chengdu and Shenzhen have begun to issue resident permits to migrant farmers to ensure their fair treatment in employment, social security and schooling.
For a long time, migrant farmers without an urban hukou were not accepted as urban residents, preventing them from accessing medical and social security insurance schemes.
