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Investigation report on the living conditions of migrant workers in Hangzhou

Hangzhou No.2 Middle School Class 1 (1 1) Research Group

Instructor Zhao

Abstract: In China, it is common for migrant workers to work in cities, and their living conditions are generally poor. With the implementation of policies in Hangzhou, the living conditions of migrant workers have been improved, but there are still some serious problems: low quality leads to insufficient awareness of rights protection, no skills but coolies, low quality of life and empty spiritual world. Generally speaking, they are somewhat out of touch with the requirements of Hangzhou's economic development for workers. Therefore, we should strengthen supervision, management and training to create a better employment environment for them and bring greater development to Hangzhou.

[Keywords:] Suggestions on the living conditions of migrant workers

China is a big agricultural country, and the issues concerning agriculture, countryside and farmers have always been the focus of government and society. With the decrease of agricultural land and the improvement of production efficiency, many rural surplus laborers come to cities and become an important part of urban population-migrant workers. In China, the living conditions of migrant workers have always been concerned by the world, and the problems they encounter, such as unpaid wages, children's schooling and difficulties in adapting to the city, have always been worrying. In recent years, there has been a wave of migrant workers in Hangzhou, with 1.47 million migrant workers, accounting for about a quarter of Hangzhou's population.

What is the life of migrant workers in Hangzhou? What impact will they have on the development of Hangzhou's economic life? How to protect your legitimate interests in the process of urbanization? With these questions, we investigated some migrant workers and related departments in Hangzhou during the spring break. We distributed 80 questionnaires, received 73 valid answers, and interviewed Hangzhou Labor and Social Security Bureau, Urban Construction Bureau, labor market, several construction sites and community security guards. The survey found that the living conditions of migrant workers in Hangzhou have been greatly improved, but there are also some serious problems. Although there is still a big gap between the service industry and the manual labor industry in Hangzhou, the trend of increasing the number of migrant workers in Hangzhou has slowed down or even stopped, because migrant workers working in Hangzhou are mainly from poor areas, with low overall quality and lack of technical skills, coupled with rising living costs. The living conditions of migrant workers in Hangzhou tend to be poor materially, while their spiritual life is more empty.

1. Distribution characteristics of migrant workers in Hangzhou

Age distribution of migrant workers in Hangzhou

Percentage of age population

Less than 20 1 1.49%

20~30 28 4 1.79%

30~40 27 40.30%

40~50 10 14.93%

Over 50 1 1.49%

Total 67 100.00%

Table 1- 1

Gender distribution of migrant workers in Hangzhou

Percentage of sex population

Male 50 83.30%

Female 10 16.70%

Total 60 100.00%

Table 1-2

According to the age distribution (table 1- 1), the migrant workers in Hangzhou are mainly between 20 and 40 years old, mainly young and middle-aged. In terms of gender distribution (table 1-2), the majority of migrant workers are men 1. The reason is the countryside.

It is still women who mainly stay at home to do farm work and take care of their children, while men are more likely to find jobs in cities because of their physical advantages. This age and gender distribution makes migrant workers mainly undertake manual labor.

2. From the perspective of jobs, migrant workers are mainly engaged in the secondary and tertiary industries. Mainly concentrated in labor-intensive enterprises such as construction enterprises, among which the number of migrant workers in individual and private limited liability enterprises accounts for about 70%. With the rapid development of urban economy and the expansion of urban service system, there is a large structural demand for employment in urban construction, commercial service and other labor departments, and the ability to absorb labor is great, and the gap of this demand is often unable to be filled by urban youth who yearn for comfortable white-collar jobs. It can be said that migrant workers have made great contributions to the construction of our city.

Analysis table of education level of migrant workers in Hangzhou

Percentage of people with educational level

Illiteracy 1 1 17.8%

Primary school 8 12.9%

Junior high school 33 53.2%

Senior high school 9 14.5%

Above senior high school 1 1.6%

Total 62 100.0%

Table 1-3

3. From the perspective of types of work, it is generally hard, dirty, tired and without technical expertise. Such as construction sites, general workers, sewing workers, cleaners, etc. According to the theory of social stratification, this kind of work belongs to the lowest level of unskilled and low income by occupation. Although the social division of labor is pyramid-shaped, such lower-level jobs will account for the majority, but the problems of migrant workers themselves are also a major reason for this situation: low knowledge level, low professional skills and low quality training. This can be seen from the education level of migrant workers (table 1-3): although 69.3% of migrant workers have a junior high school education or above, about 17.8% are illiterate, and about 12.9% have a primary school education level. Therefore, it is difficult to find a job, find employment, and the salary level is not high. When one's rights and interests are infringed, one cannot protect one's rights and interests by proper means. Fortunately, when asked about "have you ever thought about receiving re-education", most young migrant workers answered yes, but they all suffered from lack of money and didn't know what to do. During the interview with the Urban Construction Bureau, we also learned that every district in Hang Cheng has set up free schools for migrant workers, the main content of which is basic knowledge (culture, law) training.

Table of main sources of migrant workers

Percentage of population by province

Outside the province 15 2 1.4%

Jiangsu 10 14.3%

Anhui 10 14.3%

Henan 8 1 1.4%

Gansu 6 8.6%

Hubei 5 7. 1%

Sichuan 5 7. 1%

Other 1 1 15.8%

Total 70 100.0%

Table 1-4

4. From the distribution of migrant workers, migrant workers in our city mainly come from Jiangsu, Anhui and other places (1-4), which is close to Zhejiang, but relatively poor. According to the information provided by the Municipal Labor and Social Security Bureau, the main sources of migrant workers are Chun 'an, Jiande and Quzhou in this province and Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan and Sichuan in other provinces. By the end of 2003, 37.69% of migrant workers were registered in this province and 62.3 1% were registered in other provinces. Among them, Anhui accounts for 29.4 1%, Jiangxi accounts for 17.36%, Sichuan accounts for1.41%,Henan accounts for 10.52%, and Jiangsu accounts for 8.92%, except for the whole country. In recent years, the growth trend of migrant workers from other provinces in Hangzhou is higher than that in this province. 1999, the proportion of migrant workers inside and outside the province was 1: 1, in 2000 it was changed to 1.5, and after 2002 it was basically 1:3[ ibid.].

2. Working conditions and living environment of migrant workers in Hangzhou

1. Hangzhou has a relatively relaxed employment environment, wide employment channels, simple procedures and strong government support. In the survey, migrant workers generally report that it is easier to find a job in Hang Cheng, and they are basically not worried about unemployment. The government's policy on migrant workers' employment in cities is also very loose. The original three certificates (family planning registration card, ID card and migrant work permit) have been changed to two certificates (ID card and migrant work permit). The procedure is simplified to one-stop service: registration (Hangzhou employment registration card, the relevant units have filled in the employment registration information)-on-the-job training (not professional vocational training, just the most basic on-the-job guidance, watch promotional videos)-looking for a job and applying for it. The Bureau of Labor and Employment has issued various policies to ensure that migrant workers enjoy the same working conditions as Hangzhou people. For example, it only takes a few hours to go through the formalities in Hangzhou Human Resources Development Center. Therefore, migrant workers are generally satisfied with the employment environment in Hangzhou.

Statistics on Wage Income of Migrant Workers in Hangzhou

Percentage of working class

Less than 500 10 13.9%

500~ 1000 32 44.4%

1000~ 1500 24 33.3%

Higher than 1500 6 8.4%

Total 72 100.0%

Table 2- 1

2. The wage level of migrant workers is basically the same as the per capita income of farmers in Hangzhou, but the actual income is low. The survey shows that 78% of migrant workers earn between 500 ~ 1500, and 1000 ~ 1500 accounts for 33.3%, which is close to 1/3. In 2003, the per capita disposable income of urban residents was 12898 yuan (monthly average). However, the income gap between different positions and different skills is large. The income of a considerable number of migrant workers is very low, only about 400-500 yuan. Although their income is above the minimum living security line, the actual monthly net income is less than that of 350 yuan due to the problems of children's schooling, high prices and high living cost in Hangzhou.

Statistics on the signing of contracts by migrant workers

Percentage of contracted personnel

Mark 24 36.9%

Not signed 35 53.9%

I don't know about it 6 9.2%

Total 65 100.0%

Table 2-2

3. Most migrant workers do not sign labor contracts with employers before employment, so they have no stable employment and living security (Table 2-2). Among the signed contracts, about 15% of the contracts stipulate endowment insurance and industrial injury insurance, and 85% of migrant workers are still blank in this respect.

According to our analysis, there are two main reasons for this phenomenon: on the one hand, migrant workers subjectively think that signing a contract is useless or simply do not know that there is a contract, so they will not think of signing a contract; On the other hand, due to the lack of knowledge of migrant workers, some employers have made no mention of signing contracts. If migrant workers propose to sign a contract, it is only a formal contract, and it does not involve any substantive issues such as insurance. Some employers have a tough attitude: "Do what you want, leave it behind if you don't want to do it", so some migrant workers will swallow their words and stop making public.

Migrant workers get wage statistics on time and in full.

Percentage of people in this situation

Can 40 67.8%

Not 19 32.2%

Total 59 100.0%

Table 2-3

4. On the issue of timely and full payment of wages, the overall situation is good, but some private owners have arrears of wages, which has a lot to do with the strict enforcement of laws by functional departments in Hangzhou. Regarding the problem of unpaid wages, the society has always been more concerned. Among the migrant workers who participated in this survey, 67.8% were able to get their wages on time and in full (Table 2-3), and the overall situation was relatively good. However, private enterprises still have the problem of wage arrears. Many employers pay their living expenses monthly and settle accounts at the end of the year, which is a way to limit the flow of migrant workers. But for migrant workers, a small monthly living expenses (around 200 yuan) will be difficult to cope with emergencies, so they will have to borrow money, which will threaten their quality of life.

5. Migrant workers are very ignorant of laws and regulations, do not know what legitimate rights and interests they should enjoy, and lack the necessary awareness of rights protection.

Statistics on laws and policies known by migrant workers

Proportion of population with laws, regulations and policies

Central Document No.1 1 1.4%

Labor Law 34 47.2%

The policy of Hangzhou is 3 4.2%.

Not at all. 34 47.2%

Total 72 100.0%

Table 2-4

According to the survey (Table 2-4), some people said "I don't know, and I don't want to know". Judging from the survey results, nearly half of the people only know the existence of the labor law, but actually know nothing about the content. Even, nearly half of the people (47.2%) don't know what laws protect their legitimate rights and interests. This is mainly due to their low level of education, weak awareness of rights protection, indifferent attitude towards rights protection (nearly 40% think that "it is really impossible to go home and farm", and the government's propaganda on the popularization of the law is not enough.

Statistics on Migrant Workers' Understanding of Their Rights and Interests

Percentage of equity population

Endowment insurance 14 19.2%

Industrial injury insurance 22 30. 1%

Working hours 23 3 1.5%

I don't know 35 47.9%

Table 2-5

Nearly half of the migrant workers (47.9%) do not know their legitimate rights and interests (Table 2-5), especially those who work in construction sites. Mainly. Some people think that as long as the boss is better, things are responsible. This lack of necessary legal concepts and awareness of rights protection, and the psychology of replacing the law with emotion, have led to illegal phenomena such as unpaid wages and extended working hours, and also led to the difficulty in implementing some government policies.

Statistics of migrant workers' rights protection methods

How to defend the percentage of people

Find 44 related departments, 58.7%

Find 6 fellow villagers, 8.0%

2 2.7% turned to the society for help.

I don't know 23 30.7%

Total 75 100.0%

Table 2-6

Regarding the ways of safeguarding rights, 23% of people said they didn't know (Table 2-6), and 44% chose to find relevant departments. However, during the interview, we also found a tricycle driver who said that he had lost confidence in the labor and social security bureau and other government departments. The reason is that he once went to the bank to deposit 200 yuan and was detained by the bank staff. Once he went to the city government to demonstrate, the government did not respond. For this matter, leave it to who is right and who is wrong, because there is no way to understand it. But among them, on the one hand, the way you choose is not appropriate. If you complain in a legal way and in an appropriate way, I believe there will be better results; On the other hand, this is also a sign that the government's work is still not in place.

In an interview with the Urban Construction Bureau, we learned that due to the flexibility of migrant workers' employment and the fact that many migrant workers are employed through illegal intermediaries, their management is very difficult.

6. The quality of life of migrant workers in Hangzhou is poor, and housing and children's schooling are still the main factors that plague them.

Engel coefficient table

Percentage evaluation of coefficient number

Below 30%, 0.0% is the richest

30 ~ 40% 34.3% rich

40 ~ 50% 7 10.0% well-off society

50 ~ 59% 14 20.0% food and clothing

More than 59%, 46% and 65.7% are poor.

Total 70 100.0%—

Table 2-7

After counting the proportion of purchasing food and related materials in wages (Table 2-7) and comparing it with Engel coefficient, we find that the material life of migrant workers is not good. Although their income is not low, due to the relatively high price level in Hangzhou, their monthly balance is not much; Moreover, most of them come to Hangzhou to work in order to earn money, and then send them home after making money. Therefore, although their salary level is not low, their Engel coefficient is low because they basically don't spend in other aspects except eating.

Statistics on solving the housing problem of migrant workers in Hangzhou

Percentage of people in the way

Buying a house 3 5.9%

Rent 40 78.4%

No fixed residence 4 7.8%

Can't solve four 7.8%

Total 5 1 100.0%

Table 2-8

Housing is also a major problem faced by migrant workers (Table 2-8). Some migrant workers share a room to reduce the burden of renting. Some even live in railway stations; The vast majority of migrant workers (97.4%) who work on the construction site live on the construction site. Some construction sites with good conditions have temporary dormitories, and some have no dormitories at all. Employees can live directly in the basement of new houses. Due to the rising housing prices in Hangzhou, employers can gradually reduce the accommodation problems of migrant workers. According to preliminary statistics, only about 20% of the recruits can provide accommodation. This has led to the fact that although the wages in Hangzhou are not low, except for the cost of food and accommodation, there is not much savings in one year, and some of them have to be sent home, and the rest are even less. Therefore, this year, there is a trend that migrant workers continue to flow to neighboring cities with relatively low "living costs". This will have a certain impact on the introduction of skilled talents and high-level talents by Hangzhou enterprises.

On the issue of children going to school, all migrant workers agree that they should go to school, which shows that the changes of the times have fundamentally changed people's view that reading is useless. However, children's schooling is also one of the heaviest burdens for farmers. 82. 1% migrant workers think that economic factors will or will affect their children's schooling. When we interviewed, we found a cleaner with a monthly income of only 500 yuan, almost all of which was used for his son to study. In order to give children a better education, they are willing to borrow money to pay expensive sponsorship fees. Such a burden can be imagined. There is also a child of migrant workers who dropped out of school to work in the second day because he had no money to pay wages. Although there are many schools for the children of migrant workers in Hang Cheng, it may be because of financial problems, or the teaching quality is not as good as other schools, or the household registration problem that many children of migrant workers pay sponsorship fees and become loan students. This invisibly increases the economic burden of migrant workers, indicating that Hangzhou is still somewhat unfair in accepting migrant workers. Although the national condition of China is the scarcity of educational resources, we hope to create a better educational environment for the children of migrant workers, reduce their burden, make them concentrate more on their work and avoid the problem of poor quality of migrant workers from generation to generation.

7. Most migrant workers are not satisfied with their life in Hangzhou, but they think that the attitude of Hangzhou people towards them is basically good.

Statistical table of life satisfaction rate of migrant workers

Percentage of people who are satisfied with the status quo

Satisfied 14 19.4%

General 14 19.4%

Dissatisfied with 44 6 1.2%

Total 72 100.0%

Table 2-9

When asked whether they are satisfied with their present life, more than half of them are dissatisfied with their life (Table 2-9), mainly in accommodation, education level, living security, canteen on the construction site, work and salary, feelings and so on. Many migrant workers said that in Hangzhou, there are no other friends except fellow villagers, and it is difficult for outsiders to know the hardships of leaving their hometown. They have almost no other activities except work, but go home to sleep after work. The emptiness of the spiritual world can be imagined. There are no movies, shopping and other activities in the mall.

In the survey, most migrant workers said that Hangzhou people had a good attitude towards them. Some people praise Hangzhou people as "warm, open and hospitable" and have no prejudice against migrant workers, so they are not discriminated against in Hangzhou. On the one hand, this is due to the change of people's concept and the improvement of the quality of urban people, on the other hand, it is also the result of the improvement of the quality of urban migrant workers (as can be seen from the conversation with them). But it is undeniable that some people still look at migrant workers with colored glasses, and many people are misunderstood because of their identity. Undeniably, some migrant workers' low quality and low education level are the direct reasons for their low quality, which indirectly leads to some migrant workers' violation of law and discipline and lack of public morality, which affects the appearance of Hangzhou, so they are despised by people.

Third, our opinions and suggestions on the issue of migrant workers.

We should see that a large number of migrant workers have made great contributions to the urban construction of Hangzhou and provided impetus for our economic development. Now their living conditions and environment are relatively poor, so we should take some positive measures to improve this situation. In this regard, we put forward some opinions and suggestions:

1. Provide professional vocational training for migrant workers, not just basic knowledge training before employment, improve training quality and employability, and improve their viability.

First of all, the relevant departments should strengthen publicity, not only to let migrant workers know about the existence of migrant workers' schools, but also to make them aware of participating in training.

Statistics on Vocational Training of Migrant Workers in Hangzhou

Is there a percentage of people who have been trained?

There are 34, 60.70%

22nd place, 39.30%

Total 56 100.0%

Table 3- 1

Secondly, strengthen vocational training to solve the increasing demand for high-level human resources in Hangzhou's economic development. Hangzhou has not yet established a complete vocational training system. On-the-job training and schools for migrant workers' children only provide the most basic cultural education, and there is no professional training for occupations. Among migrant workers, the number of people who participate in or understand vocational training is relatively small, and the situation of not participating in vocational training (including safety operation and skills training) is particularly serious among private enterprises and temporary workers. There are still a large number of projects under construction in Hangzhou. In recent years, foreign-funded companies (such as precision instrument factories) stationed in Hang Cheng also need a lot of cheap labor, and there is a great demand for workers with certain skills and middle and senior talents in related service industries. The demand for construction engineering technicians is 30,000, followed by the demand for security personnel and sales personnel, with 22,000 and 20,000 respectively. Strengthening vocational training is an important way to improve the quality of migrant workers. And a large number of migrant workers are on the verge of unemployment. In order to make full use of this huge human resource, the best way is to improve the vocational training system as much as possible. This depends on the efforts of the government and the support of the whole society. In addition to schools for children of migrant workers, all kinds of vocational schools and adult education centers can open their doors to migrant workers, lower the entrance threshold, and take some measures (such as reducing tuition fees) to improve the quality of migrant workers and make contributions to the development of Hangzhou.

2. The three parties work together to effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers. Problems such as unpaid wages and long working hours are not only unfair to migrant workers, but also indifferent to laws and human rights, and will also affect the attractiveness of cheap labor in Hangzhou and the image of our city.

To solve this problem, we should start from three aspects: migrant workers, employers and labor security departments. First of all, migrant workers need to improve their legal awareness of safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests. Article 16 of Chapter III of the Labor Law stipulates that a labor contract shall be concluded to establish labor relations; Article 72 of Chapter IX stipulates that employers and employees must participate in social insurance and pay social insurance premiums according to law. Chapter V, Article 50, stipulates that wages should be paid to the workers themselves on a monthly basis in the form of money. The wages of workers shall not be deducted or delayed without reason. Migrant workers should understand that their rights and interests are protected by law and have the courage to fight for them through legal channels. Secondly, to standardize the labor market, employers must recruit employees through the labor market. Legal intermediary employment is beneficial to the management and supervision of relevant departments and is an important way to solve this problem. Thirdly, for employers, they should know their obligations. Being responsible for migrant workers means being responsible for themselves, and the protection of workers' rights and interests can improve their labor enthusiasm and consciousness. It should be noted that rights and obligations are unified, and labor contracts are also a constraint on workers' law-abiding labor. Fourth, the labor and social security departments should strengthen supervision, in addition to conducting surprise inspections through reporting, increase the frequency of regular inspections at ordinary times; It is necessary to intensify the crackdown on violations of labor laws and let illegal employers be punished more; Strengthen the publicity of migrant workers, for example, through legal training in migrant workers' schools, so that they can understand basic legal knowledge.

3. Government functional departments should strengthen research, truly practice "power for the people, love for the people, and benefit for the people", rationally guide and manage emerging occupations, and try to provide more employment opportunities instead of simply and rudely prohibiting them.

For example, when interviewing people who are engaged in shoeshine and buying telephone cards on the street, they said that their jobs are often rudely driven away by the city management team, but there is no other job to do, so they still engage in such jobs after being driven away again and again. It is observed that there are many private cars parked on the sidewalks in places with a large flow of people, which hinders the passage of pedestrians, but urban management personnel turn a blind eye. In the dialogue with the staff of the Urban Construction Bureau, they said that shoeshine and buying phone cards on the street affected the city appearance and should be banned.

As we all know, on the one hand, these occupations can absorb part of the labor force and meet people's needs. If properly guided, they will not only affect the appearance of the city, but also become a kind of urban landscape, so that Hangzhou will gradually integrate with the international and high-level image. With the improvement of living standards and quality of life, many people really need similar services. As a vigorously developed industry in China, the tertiary industry has played a great role in absorbing surplus labor. Such a profession is still on the rise, but the system has not kept up. Strictly forbidden, it is better to guide. Legislation should be made as soon as possible to regulate this kind of occupation, such as stipulating a certain plot as a special service area, so that they can serve everyone in dress; Provide them with special training to meet the norms of the service industry and so on.

4. Organize more cultural and sports activities to enrich the spiritual world of migrant workers and strengthen exchanges with Hangzhou citizens.

People who go out to work will always feel homesick in other places, and the work they are engaged in is generally labor-intensive, so they should have proper entertainment and relaxation. We believe that, as the manager of Hangzhou, the government can organize more cultural and sports activities, such as holding cultural performances regularly and showing movies for free, so as to enrich their spiritual realm, relieve their pain of missing their loved ones and enable them to work in Hangzhou with peace of mind. For example, "Singing in Hangzhou Migrant Workers Square" held not long ago is a successful example. On the other hand, we should also strengthen the communication between migrant workers and Hang Cheng residents, such as connecting migrant workers with the community and holding small parties to let people know the image of migrant workers in the new era and feel the warmth of the city.

summary

Through this survey, we have a certain understanding of the living conditions of migrant workers in Hangzhou. It should be said that the urban construction of Hangzhou still needs a large number of migrant workers, and their living conditions are directly related to their enthusiasm for production and their impression of Hangzhou. Their poor living conditions will directly lead to the outflow of a large number of cheap labor and affect the development of labor-intensive industries in Hangzhou. On the other hand, a large number of migrant workers have also brought pressure to Hangzhou's traffic, environment and public security. Therefore, how to make rational use of this human resource and improve the quality of life of migrant workers will be a major issue. We also learned from the Urban Construction Bureau that strengthening skills training, supervision and employment norms will be the highlight of this year. In our opinion, strengthen legislation and law enforcement, standardize the work and life of migrant workers, make them conform to the image of Hangzhou metropolis, integrate migrant workers into the city, and make greater contributions to the construction of Hangzhou city!

[References]

1 According to the survey conducted by the Municipal Labor and Social Security Bureau on the employment of migrant workers in Hangzhou, the proportion of male and female applicants was 60.72% and 39.82% respectively.

2 "The industries that migrant workers are engaged in are mainly the secondary and tertiary industries ... accounting for about 70% of the total", extracted from the employment survey of migrant workers in Hangzhou.

4 "In 2003, the per capita disposable income of urban residents was 12898 yuan, and the per capita net income of farmers was 5740 yuan", which was taken from Hangzhou Yearbook 2003 of the Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

5 "The main source of migrant workers in this province is Chun 'an ... After 2002, it is basically more than 1: 3." Excerpted from "Investigation on the Employment of Migrant Workers in Hangzhou".

6 "The demand for construction engineering technicians is 30,000, and the demand is