当前位置: Language Tips> 新闻播报

Migrant workers still avoid contracts

中国日报网 2013-05-28 10:18

分享到

 

Get Flash Player

Download

Less than half of all migrant workers across China signed contracts with their employers last year, and analysts say the situation is likely to continue.

The country's migrant workforce reached 262.61 million in 2012, a year-on-year increase of 3.9 percent, according to a report released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

But only 43.9 percent of those workers signed contracts – little changed from the previous year.

Breaking down the bureau's numbers into sectors, the construction industry fared best, with 75.1 percent of migrant workers signing contracts with their employers, an annual growth of 1.5 percentage points.

In the manufacturing sector, only 48.8 percent signed contracts.

Zhang Yi, a researcher of labor force and economy studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the construction industry is considered high risk, and as a result most migrant workers choose to sign contracts, to safeguard their rights in case of accidents.

In other sectors, though, he said that migrant workers get jobs through relatives, who are also migrant workers and recommend family members to employers.

"Under such conditions, workers are unlikely to sign contracts as they trust their relatives to look after them," he said.

About 0.5 percent of migrant workers reported they did not get paid on time last year, a drop of 0.3 percentage points from the previous year, according to the bureau's report.

Li Sha, 24, a migrant worker from Juancheng county in Shandong province, said she had never even thought of signing a contract after coming to Beijing to work with her cousin's refurbishing team, which was not registered at the industrial and commercial department.

"I can't tell the difference between signing and not signing a contract," she said.

"All the workers in our refurbishing team are from the same town and none have signed contracts."

Many migrant workers are also reluctant to sign contracts because if they did, their salaries would be reduced by about 42 percent to pay for their social security including pensions and insurance, Zhang said.

Under current labor regulations in many cities, migrant workers cannot get any social security funds back if they leave the city where they work, and as a result, many do not want to pay for social security since many do not plan to stay, he added.

Even though a migrant worker stays in a city, many do not enjoy equal rights to natives of the city, in education, medicine and pensions due to the long-existing hukou, or household registration system, Zhang said.

The government in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, launched a pilot project in May to cancel the current rural and urban hukou, and allow all residents to have the same hukou status.

Zhang said the reform has set a good example for many local governments, but not many cities have said they would like to provide similar equal rights for migrant workers due to the pension and insurance costs.

He predicted it would take a long time for the government to provide equal social security rights to urban and rural residents, but only then will migrant workers be willing to sign contracts.

Li Shi, a Beijing Normal University professor who has carried out research on the growing income gap in China, said that many migrant workers would never be fully accepted by urban people, and the biggest hurdle they are always likely to face is on government-subsidized rental housing.

(中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑)

Migrant workers still avoid contracts

About the broadcaster:

Migrant workers still avoid contracts

Lance Crayon is a videographer and editor with China Daily. Since living in Beijing he has worked for China Radio International (CRI) and Global Times. Before moving to China he worked in the film industry in Los Angeles as a talent agent and producer. He has a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Arlington.

 

分享到

中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883561联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。

中国日报网双语新闻

扫描左侧二维码

添加Chinadaily_Mobile
你想看的我们这儿都有!

中国日报双语手机报

点击左侧图标查看订阅方式

中国首份双语手机报
学英语看资讯一个都不能少!

关注和订阅

本文相关阅读
人气排行
热搜词
 
精华栏目
 

阅读

词汇

视听

翻译

口语

合作

 

关于我们 | 联系方式 | 招聘信息

Copyright by chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved. None of this material may be used for any commercial or public use. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 版权声明:本网站所刊登的中国日报网英语点津内容,版权属中国日报网所有,未经协议授权,禁止下载使用。 欢迎愿意与本网站合作的单位或个人与我们联系。

电话:8610-84883645

传真:8610-84883500

Email: languagetips@chinadaily.com.cn