Rural workers will gain access to health, education benefits in cities

Chinese migrant workers living in cities will gradually have full access to schools and hospitals where they work, a significant move to improve social equality between rural and urban residents.

Under guidelines to create a unified household registration system, known ashukou, the dual-household system that has divided people into urban or agricultural households since the 1950s will be phased out. In its place, a system of residence permits will be set up to allow qualified migrants to enjoy urban services.

"The guidelines will play a positive role in accelerating the country's urbanization," said Zhang Yi, a population expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, by creating attractive conditions for new rural residents to come to urban areas.

The guidelines said basic public services - including education, healthcare, social insurance, employment, aged care and housing - will be expanded to migrants' children.

"It will bring massive opportunities," Zhang said, adding that it will require large government spending on schools, hospitals, roads and housing.

Huang Ming, vice-minister of public security, agreed that the reform will be unprecedented regarding its scale, coverage, measures and the resolution of the central government.

More than 200 million rural migrants are now working in cities and the numbers are increasing, Huang said.

According to a national plan in speeding up urbanization, the country intends to subsidize vocational training for all rural migrants by 2020.

Liu Limin, vice-minister of education, said that in the past three years more than 3 million migrant children have entered kindergartens in cities, and 28 provinces and regions are unveiling or discussing policies to give migrant students access to the college entrance examination.

Besides education, Wang Pei'an, vice-minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said a community-based healthcare system has been established in cities with 8,488 community medical care centers built across the country by the end of 2013.

The guideline also said the expansion of the country's megacities including Beijing and Shanghai will be limited.

Initially, Huang said, the country will take effective measures, such as a point system based on applicants' living and employment conditions, to scientifically control the flow of its population to the major cities.

Xi urged hukou reform in 2001 PhD paper

A PhD dissertation written by President Xi Jinping 13 years ago, in which he urged reform of the hukou, or household registration system, was made public on Wednesday.

The system has created a large income gap between rural and urban residents that should be corrected in a prudent and proactive manner, Xi wrote.

The dissertation, part of a library collection at Tsinghua University, was written in December 2001 when Xi, then governor of East China's Fujian province, was studying economics at Tsinghua for a doctoral degree.

In the dissertation, Xi said that most migrant workers could not enjoy many social services because of restrictions inherent in their hukou status.

Under current rules, people with urban hukou enjoy better social services including health, housing, education and pensions. Even though many rural people have migrated and lived in a city for years, they are barred from many social services because of their lack of urban hukou.

The historical trend points to the abolition of the hukou system, which is based on birth, Xi wrote.

The government should face reality in a reasonable and brave manner, and reform the hukou system to level out social services, he wrote.

The dissertation also mapped out specific steps for hukou reform. Small towns and cities could take the first step to lift restrictions, it said, while medium and large cities could follow.

In the dissertation, Xi suggested that migrant workers who have lived in a city for years and have stable incomes could be given priority in their applications for urban hukou.

Official statistics show that China had 166 million migrant workers in cities and towns away from their documented homes at the end of last year. The figure increased to 174 million by the end of June this year.

Xi expressed his concerns about the problems of hukou many times before he was elected president.

In July 2001, when he was governor of Fujian, Xi told a local magazine that the government would promote the process of urbanization and make reforms to hukou, farmland and related matters.

During the annual session of the National People's Congress in March 2013, Xi asked Zhu Xueqin, a migrant worker, whether she had obtained hukou in Shanghai municipality, the Beijing News reported.

According to the report, Zhu replied that she got Shanghai hukou only after being designated one of China's 1,000 excellent migrant workers in 2008 by the State Council, China's cabinet.

China to enhance service for migrant workers

 China will provide better services for migrant workers in cities to help them become urbanites, according to an executive meeting of the State Council on Wednesday.

The meeting, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, said that improving services for the vast group will help nurture a high quality work force, expand consumption and let them enjoy the fruits of growth.

It will also promote social equality and contribute to sustainable and healthy economic growth, according to a statement released after the meeting.

China had 174 million migrant workers in cities and towns away from their homes at the end of June.

The cabinet announced earlier on Wednesday plans to help over 100 million people without urban ID records to settle in towns and cities by 2020, ending dual household registration systems which divide people into urban or rural residents since the 1950s.

Migrant workers will be given help to find jobs in cities through training to increase their job opportunities, and encouraged to start their own businesses by offers of fiscal support, investment guidance, loan guarantees and interest subsidies.

Wage delays by employers are an old problem in some sectors, construction in particular. Wage cash deposits will be promoted, while local governments will be held ultimately accountable for migrant workers' interests.

More migrants will be able to settle permanently in urban areas and enjoy equal access to services such as pensions, medical care and housing, the statement said. Public schools in cities offering compulsory education will also open to the children of migrant workers; sports and entertainment facilities will be free of charge.

The government will remove the limits on hukou registration in townships and small cities, relax restrictions in medium-sized cities, and set qualifications for registration in big cities.

The cabinet also decided that statistical authorities will compile the jobless rate for cities to better reflect the employment situation. The urban registered unemployment rate currently excludes non-urban residents.

Also on Wednesday, the cabinet decided to solicit public opinion on an interim regulation on property registration before a unified property registration mechanism goes into place.