Rural Migrant Workers (An Economic and Social Analysis of China's Urbanizing Migrant Workers)

Author: Li Peilin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: The flow of rural migrants into cities has formed a trend since the early 1980s of the 20th century and, by the 1990s, had replaced township enterprises as the main channel for rural labor mobility and the transfer of surplus rural labor. This is an irreversible process in China's accelerated urbanization and industrial restructuring. It is also an extremely profound institutional transformation. This process benefits both farmers and society at large and is the necessary path to bridging the urban-rural divide. The influx of rural migrant workers into cities naturally brings about various new social issues. How to address, prioritize, and specifically resolve these issues, creating conditions for migrant workers to smoothly integrate into urban life and transform into new urban citizens, is a matter this book addresses from many new perspectives. This book compiles the latest research findings from authoritative institutions and scholars in China on the issue of rural migrant workers in recent years, presenting a high-level academic collection of essays. These essays focus on exploring topics such as the relationship between rural migrant worker mobility and urbanization, the impact of migration on social status changes, the role of the WTO and economic globalization in migrant worker mobility, the education of migrant worker children, and the urban spatial structure and residential location arrangements of migrant workers. These essays play a positive role in helping us accurately grasp the overall trends of rural migrant worker mobility, address the various issues arising from it, and promptly provide policy adjustments and institutional innovations that meet the demands of this profound transformation.