The central government has decided to adopt a residence permit system nationwide as a step forward in the reform of hukou, the household registration system that has prevented rural residents enjoying the same social welfare benefits as their urban counterparts.
Though some local governments have introduced residence permits, which give migrants access to basic services in cities, the State Council set out guidelines extending the system to all cities for the first time.
In a document on deepening economic reforms released on Monday, the State Council proposed gradually implementing a system of residence permits nationwide and easing hukou requirements in small and medium cities.
The latest proposal followed Premier Wen Jiabao's promise to push forward hukou reform in his annual work report in March and came just a day before Vice-Premier Li Keqiang published an article vowing to classify more farmers as urban residents.
In his article - published yesterday in Seeking Truth, the Communist Party's publication focusing on theory - Li says a priority of urbanisation is to group rural residents who satisfy certain requirements as urban residents. 'To those who currently can't have their hukou transferred to cities, efforts should be made to solve their problems regarding employment, salaries, education of their children and social securities,' he wrote.
Adopted in the late 1950s to control population movement, the hukou system has faced increasing criticism as many see it as the root cause of a widening rural-urban wealth gap because it is tied to social benefits, such as housing, education and health care. It has also become an obstacle to domestic spending as the government endeavours to shift from exports to domestic consumption to further economic growth.
Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociology professor at Renmin University, said the introduction of a national residence permit system was a prelude to the cancellation of the reviled hukou, though it would take a long time.