China’s growth has largely depended on having a large number of its population willing to relocate to the cities to lend their hands to building buildings, stitch, stamp, sweep, sweat, lift, etc. For myself, the migrant community is one that I have found fascinating for many reasons, one of which is that their sacrifices often go unappreciated by many who are the primary beneficiaries of their labors. I am constantly reminded of a conversation I had with a native Shanghaiese who was sitting in a cafe surely fitted out by migrant labor, and whose company relies on migrant labor, listening to her rant about how societies ills could be traced back to migrants… it was surreal. So, in seeing that the city governments whose cities benefit most from the migrant labor is finally coming out with larger programs I am finding a bit of comfort that things may be changing on some level. That a population that was once considered second/ third class is finally being recognized, and that their problems are considered problems that everyone needs to address. Of course, there is still room for improvement, but a recent article entitled Meeting the needs of migrant workers has done a good job of looking into the services provided by city governments for migrants and highlighting them: Beijing -

To help protect the workers, the Beijing bureau of labor and social security has stipulated that employers must cover workplace injury and provide medical insurance for their laborers.

To prevent overdue wages for migrant workers, employers are also required to submit salary payment documents to the authorities.

Similarly, the bureau has set up a 24-hour hotline, “12333″, to provide answers related to policy, workers’ rights and other labor issues.

Shanghai -

n response to the surge in population, the local authorities are planning to help migrants get better access to housing, medical services and education for their children.

Migrant workers will get free services to infectious disease prevention and treatment, children’s vaccinations and maternity care, the municipal government has said.

Shenzhen -

Shenzhen mayor Xu Zongheng told reporters on Monday that the city will gradually adopt a “residential permit” system, which has seen success in the pilot district of Yantian since September.

The system allows the administration to better manage the population by collecting full information on non-permanent residents and providing more employment, social security and educational services for their children.

Chongqing

As part of efforts to help migrant workers adapt to city life, the municipality launched a worker occupational psychology and conduct research center last month to help find out the needs and habits of the workers.