China’s ‘common prosperity’ can start by addressing discrimination against migrant workers

China’s economic boom in the last several years owes a huge debt to the nation’s migrant workforce, and it’s time for that backbone to receive greater support

Migrant workers earned an average monthly income of nearly half what urban residents in non-private-sector jobs earned last year

2-MIN READ2-MIN

President Xi Jinping visits a rural village in Jiangxi province. His new common-prosperity drive aims to more evenly distribute the nation’s wealth. Photo: Xinhua

Zhou Xin

Zhou Xin is Tech Editor of the Post, following stints as Political Economy Editor and Deputy China Editor.

Published: 6:32pm, 13 Sep 2021Updated: 10:45pm, 13 Sep 2021

China’s common-prosperity push can start with correcting the unfair treatment of the country’s 285 million migrant workers – a group of people that has contributed to the country’s rapid economic maturation, but which has been mistreated in many ways.

Beijing’s emphasis on common prosperity – an effort to make everyone moderately prosperous – came after it declared victory in eradicating “absolute poverty”, a milestone that ensures basic food, shelter, education and health care for all 1.4 billion citizens. The next step, naturally, should be to target the lower-income and disadvantaged groups.

By China’s own data, its migrant workers earned an average monthly income of 4,072 yuan (US$631) a month last year, or about half of the average salary of 7,541 yuan per month for urban residents in “non-private-sector employment”.

To make matters worse, the income gap is only part of the picture.

In fact, the term “migrant worker” itself reflects structural discrimination against domestic migration, particularly for those with rural backgrounds. Although wages for migrant workers have been rising quickly in recent years thanks to a labour shortage, and while many small Chinese cities have opened their doors to domestic migration, widespread discrimination of migrant workers still exists in big cities, further impeding their pursuit of prosperity.

In a number of Chinese cities, for instance, permanent residence is required for a driver to be a licensed ride-hailing driver, depriving migrant workers of an employment opportunity.

The country’s state pension system is still largely designed to serve local residents at the cost of migrant workers. A migrant worker who left an inland rural village at the age of 20 and worked at Guangdong factories for the next 20 years may find it hard to receive a pension from Guangdong, having to instead accept a lower pension from their rural birthplace.