The New Generation Of Urbanized Migrant Worker And The Countermeasures Of The Government

The new generation of farmer based peasant migrant worker is currently in theprocess of evolution and change, growing into a new type of labor force. This migrantlabor is the country’s main engine driving the transition to modernization. Accordingto the National Bureau of Statistics Data and the “Eleventh Five-year Plan”, thecountry’s current peasant workforce totals242million people. The new generation ofpeasant migrant labor currently stands at100million people. This accounts for nearlyhalf of the total migrant labor workforce. With such a large percentage of the totalmigrant workforce, the economic and social development of this new generation inChina is playing an increasingly important role.The growth of this new generation of migrant workers, coupled with the aging andreturn of the first wave of migrant labor to the countryside, highlight the importance ofexamining the condition of this group. The new generation of migrant workers haveentered the labor market and become a major portion of the total migrant workingpopulation that reside in cities despite having a permanent agricultural registeredresidency. These workers flow into the cities to undertake the non-farm work after80,90rural population.These new generation workers are not the same as their parents’ generation. Theydo not have the basic characteristics of farmers, lack basic agricultural production skills,and do not want to return to the countryside. Their ambition, employmentopportunities and economic futures are held in the city. They feel that they “must becity men” and hope to be able to enjoy the same treatment within cities as legallyregistered citizens of the cities. However, due to lagging national labor and residencypolicy and the lack implementation of new policy or initiatives, this new generation ofmigrant workers faces an identity crisis. They are the driving labor force creating modernization but cannot receive the social protection or legal residency of the citiesthat they are building.The end result is the creation of a system where a member of the new generation ofmigrant workers cannot legally reside in the city and are ill equipped to return to anagricultural life in the countryside. This creates a long-term “drift” problem. This“drift” will create stability problems in both the rural and urban areas and, moreimportantly, will impede the establishment of a harmonious society, the realization ofthe comprehensively constructed Grand Society, in China. Therefore, the newgeneration of urbanized migrant worker problem is an urgent and pressing subject thatneeds to be examined.