A Study of Policies on Migrant Labor in China since the Early 2000s

Abstract

China's industrialization has created a group of urban laborers who were born in rural places. The plight of migrant workers is a major issue in contemporary China. This group faces precarious circumstances, in part because migrants, or nongmingong as they are known in China, lack the rights of other urban residents. As the ranks of migrants swelled in the 1990s, most government responses were local. Following the start of the Hu Jintao administration in 2002, a set of national guidelines on migrants began to take shape. This thesis documents the construction of a national regime for governing migrants in Chinas cities. The focus here is on the policies that have been adopted between 2002 and 2016. The policies cover both the economic and social rights of migrants. The thesis draws on both state and party documents. Material from central party and state organs is supplemented with a selection of local regulations. While the impact of these policies on administration and on the lives of migrants is left to future research, the thesis demonstrates an effort by top party-state leaders to build a national system governing migrants.