Op-Ed Contributors

Special group, equal treatment

By Chi Fulin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-12 07:52

One big reason for the spurt in urban populations has been due to the influx of migrant workers. Of the 230 million migrant workers from rural areas, 150 million work in cities.

If they are given citizenship rights in cities during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the urban population will touch 700 million, accounting for between 52 and 55 percent of the country's total population.

The demographic structure of rural migrant workers is undergoing significant change.

The new generation of migrant workers, born in the 1980s and 1990s, is set to become the mainstay of the industrial workforce during the 12th Five-Year Plan period. This post-80s generation has been swarming into the urban market in search of not only jobs, but also self-advancement.

Therefore, this is the right time to grant them citizenship rights.

The China Institute for Reform and Development recently asked experts for their opinion on rural reforms during the 12th Five-Year Plan period. Nearly 80 percent of the respondents said basic requirements to fundamentally solve the problems of rural migrant workers will be in place during the plan period.

This is not only imperative but also feasible due to quite a few conditions in its favor.

Granting migrant workers urban citizenship will help dismantle the dual urban-rural hukou system.

This can be done in two steps.

During the first three years of the 12th Five-Year Plan period, urban citizenship in small and medium-sized cities should be thrown open to migrant rural workers. In the subsequent two years, urban citizenship in large cities can be granted to these workers.

Toward the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the temporary residence permits held by migrant rural workers should be changed into "residence permits" and they must be free to reside anywhere in the nation and be administered under a unified national policy.