Equal rights for migrants
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However, if these major State-owned enterprises continue to adhere to the "same work but different remuneration", it will be counter productive to the country's endeavor to expand domestic demand. It will also aggravate China's dependence on overseas markets and diminish its economic self-reliance. In which case, the country's efforts to eliminate some deep-rooted problems underlying its domestic demand insufficiency, such as a disparity in income distribution, will be to no avail.
The prevailing system of migrant workers remains an important reason why the country's urbanization has long lagged behind its industrialization. China's modernization drive will achieve little if its urbanization fails to achieve substantial progress.
As the Lewis Turning Point is reached, the supply of new labor in China will decline, which is expected to increase the difficulty of meeting the country's ever-growing demands for labor caused by its rapid economic growth momentum and the expansion of its economic aggregate. The widespread shortage of migrant workers throughout China in recent years has underscored the severity of this issue. This tendency, if not effectively curbed, might plunge China's economy into recession earlier than expected. Giving migrant workers the same status and rights as their urban counterparts will spur the use of larger-scale mechanization in rural areas. This will liberate a lot of rural labor for urban areas.
To expand domestic demand and promote sustainable economic and social development, the country should launch a sweeping overhaul over its current system of migrant workers.
Practical measures should be taken as soon as possible to ensure that migrant workers and their urban counterparts are equally paid in the same workplace. At the same time, city authorities should extend urban residency to migrant workers within the territories under their administrative jurisdiction.
The country should also start introducing a unified social pension system for all workers, whether they are public servants, employees of institutions or those employed in State-owned and private enterprises.
The author is director of the Rural Construction Research Center under Hebei University.
