China's younger migrants eye more than money

BEIJING - Unlike her father, who did not venture out of central Henan province to work in Beijing until he was in his 30s, florist Su Ya left her home for the bright lights of the capital three years ago - when she was only 20.

Ms Su makes new friends through floral arrangement classes and keeps in touch with them through social media, such as the Twitter-like Weibo microblogs. Her parents mix mostly with colleagues and fellow Henan natives.

Ms Su is keen to settle down for good in the capital. But her father and mother - aged 50 and 40 and working as a waterproofing worker and a cleaner respectively - want to retire in their rural Xiangcheng county home town.

"I don't like Beijing that much but I am used to the fast-paced living and prosperity of big cities," she said. "If you want me to go back to my old home town, I will be disappointed."

The contrast between Ms Su and her parents embodies the differences between China's younger migrant workers and their predecessors, a government report has shown.

Three out of four of these "new generation" migrants - those born in or after 1980 - packed their bags for the big cities before age 20, about seven years earlier than previous generations.

Younger migrant workers also tend to take their families along with them and seek out larger cities, with the aim of moving up the social ladder, instead of just making money for survival, as their predecessors generally did.

"They do not simply leave their home towns to make money. They are seeking development in multiple ways," said Mr Wang Qian, secretary of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, which commissioned the report, at a briefing in Beijing on Sept 10.

Thus, the younger migrants pose a new set of challenges for policymakers: Rising education levels and the advent of social media mean their voices are louder, and they are more demanding and less likely to suffer injustice in silence.

"They are of the Internet generation and express their feelings and opinions online through platforms like Weibo, which was not available in the past. Younger migrants also pay more attention to their rights," Beijing-based economist Hu Xingdou, who studies social issues, told The Straits Times.

Most of the younger migrants have higher expectations in areas such as income and social security and also expect quicker reform of the hukou (household registration) system, he said.

This system splits the rural and urban population. Migrants are denied an urban hukou even if they work in cities, preventing them from getting social security and other services like housing and education.

Office assistant Zeng Youping, 24, who moved from south-western Sichuan province to Beijing in 2008, is among many young migrants bold enough to criticise what he deems as unfair government policies.

"Many policies are unfair, such as in housing, gaokao and health care. We're second-class citizens in Beijing. If there are no hukou reforms, it will be tough to continue living here," he said. Gaokao refers to China's national college entrance exams.

Mr Zeng added that while he has yet to air his complaints online, many of his friends do.

Experts say access to opportunities and basic welfare services should be "equalised" to prevent simmering discontent among younger migrants and their families from coming to a boil.

Mr Wang said his commission, for instance, is looking at ways to provide better health care to migrant mothers and their children.

If not addressed, the disgruntled migrants could scupper Premier Li Keqiang's urbanisation push to boost domestic consumption and grow the economy in a more sustainable way.

Indeed, a string of labour protests in 2010 over wage disputes at Japanese carmakers Honda and Toyota's plants across the country, with many of the protesters being young migrant workers, led to increases in wages.

Professor Hu said the growing anger could also be a destabilising force. He said statistics show that migrants - numbering 236 million as of last year - are largely responsible for crimes in cities, with many resorting to crime due to the discrimination they face, an inability to integrate and a lack of urban skill sets.

"If we cannot treat migrants well, the quality of our cities will be affected. We might be building one fewer school (for migrant children) now but might have to build another prison in future," he added.

The hukou system also prevents migrants from participating in the social and political life of cities, diminishing their sense of belonging, according to the report, which used census data and other statistics to analyse migration trends such as employment and assimilation as of last year.

"There are greater risks to social harmony and stability in areas where migrants outnumber household residents, and the prospects of aligning their interests are not good," it warned.

Change is needed, and quickly, said Mr Zhang Chen, 25, who works in the legal industry in southern Shenzhen city. He still holds a rural hukou from his home town in north-eastern Liaoning province.

Like many others who have made the trek to bigger cities, he hopes to settle permanently in Shenzhen because of the better opportunities there.

"Big city hukou should indicate where you live and not be a symbol of your status," he added.

esthert@sph.com.sg

Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.