Coronavirus: China’s migrant workers determined to stay in cities as most see ‘no hope’ in rural hometowns
- Most migrant workers want to stay in big cities for education and health care, despite the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a new survey shows
- But a lack of local residency permits, pressures on jobs and income make city living difficult for migrants who have been among the hardest hit by the outbreak
Most of China’s migrant workers will stay in cities despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on jobs and incomes because there are fewer opportunities in their economically-backward hometowns, a new report has found.
“More migrant workers are forced to go to cities to make a living. To most of them, going to cities is the best of bad options, because there are no [opportunities] or hope left in their hometown,” said the report, which was based on a survey of 311 migrant worker families in 23 provinces.
Fully 58.84 per cent of the survey respondents said they would stay in the city no matter what happens to have access to better education for their children, well above the 22 per cent who said so in the organisation’s survey during the financial crisis.
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In addition to staying for better education, some of the migrant workers chose to live and work in big cities because they have chronic diseases and there was no access to good medical care in their hometowns, the report said.