Expert: China vows to improve life for rural youth who’ve left the farm

China promises better benefits for rural migrants

BEIJING — China will grant young migrant workers more social service benefits and help them rent or buy homes in smaller cities, a government adviser said Tuesday.

For decades, China has restrained migration by linking access to low-cost public services like health care and education to a person’s registered place of residence. The system means rural migrants in Shanghai, Beijing and other big cities are deprived many essential benefits and services.

Han Jun, a senior research fellow at the Development Research Center, a think tank that advises China’s Cabinet, said a policy paper released last month made it clear that the government is “striving for substantial reform of the household registration system” to allow migrants, especially younger ones, to register in cities.

However, the reform plan aims to get migrants registered in cities and townships close to their home villages — not expensive places like Beijing or Shanghai where migrants flock for construction and service sector jobs.

“A farmer would have to live several lifetimes before he could afford an apartment in Beijing,” Han said. “This reform will be mainly focused on moving rural migrants into smaller cities and townships.”

The government will expand infrastructure in those smaller cities so migrants can obtain schooling for their children, employment opportunities, social security aid and home ownership rights, said Han.

Han said priority will be given to younger migrants but didn’t elaborate and said the changes would be gradual.

China has about 240 million rural migrant workers, including about 150 million that work in big cities.

Han also said that the government is considering reforms to its election law to increase the number of rural representatives that can be elected to the legislature. Han said the current ratio — one deputy for every 960,000 rural residents and for every 240,000 urban residents — is unfair and discriminatory.

A proposal to allow more rural deputies has already been passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Han said. The committee’s stamp of approval indicates it will likely be passed when delegates gather for their annual legislative session early next month.

“I believe this is an important and positive development,” Han said.

China’s leaders are worried about lagging rural areas, where thousands of protests a year over living conditions and perceived government indifference threaten to undermine social stability.

The central government announced at the end of January that it would significantly boost its budget for rural areas though an official figure has yet to be disclosed. Last year, the government spent 764.1 billion yuan ($111.8 billion ) — up 120 billion yuan from the previous year.