26 November 2006

2007 public service sample exam question: migrant labor shortage

This sample exam question (more accurately, model answer to a question on this topic) appears on the national education network and is probably standard over a much greater area. Changhe is (I think) a county within greater Beijing.

There is a discrepancy of the date of this document with a cited Shenzhen newspaper source, perhaps indicating that the question has been on the curriculum for a couple of years. This reference to the Shenzhen "sorting out" is actually of somewhat greater interest than indicated here, as it showed that discrimination against mingong could operate without explicit reference to hukou -- the migrants' housing was condemned on environmental /preservationist grounds.

Lao Dai
Link: http://www.eol.cn/fu_dao_zhi_nan_2720/20061116/t20061116_205409.shtml

Changhe government examination centre for managers and public servants

Sample question for 2007 public service examination -- Hot topic: migrant labor shortage*

Reasons for the dearth of migrant workers:

1) As a result of the advancement of the globalization tide and the tendency to integration of world human resources, China, whose advantage is to a very great extent its cheap work force, undertakes the role, in a sense, of processing factory to the world; the growth of the world's demand of China's labor force, and the speed of production labor force is far slower than that of the speed of change of development of labor utilization brought by the upsurge in investment

2) China's population structure is changing, in particular the aging trend together with the gradually drop in the birth rate year after year, changes in demand for labor are developing in a reverse direction to the process of economic development. This a necessary condition fort the appearance of "the dearth of migrant workers."

3) As the younger generation comes of age, and as China's educational system and ideas about employment change, the proportion of those willing to be base line workers will inev­i­tab­ly be reduced. The new generation of migrant workers has entirely different psych­olo­gical demands and behavioral characteristics to those of the past, as signaled intensely in demands for wages and rights, the mode both of leaving employment and negotiating—they expect to become workers in a dignified and equal manner, rather than merely a link on the production line.

4) The cost of going to work in town has been constantly rising. As relevant data show, the expenses basic rural migrant worker incur in surviving in the city are rapidly rowing, greatly raising their actual costs in going to work in town. Apart from this, some policy-type factors are also important in raising the cost of living in the city. Rural migrant workers who go to work in Beijing must pay at least 450 Yuan to gain credentials like the Temporary Residence Permit, Work permit, Health Card, Married Childrearing Card, Professional Qualifications Card, etc., effective for one year (Caijing no. 10, 2001).

Early this year, Shenzhen carried out a "sorting out" movement to demolish a large number of unlicensed buildings and shacks over a total area of 820,000 square meters (Shenzhen SEZ Daily, 13 June, 2004). But it is just such shacks where migrant workers are concentrated. As urban construction is modernized, the living space for rural migrant workers in the metropolis is compressed.

5) Shortsighted and limited policy and management of government agencies. In the era of expansion of migrant labour, administrative agencies commonly treated the symptoms rather that the causes. For convenience of management of the mingong discriminatory pro­visions constantly appeared, leaving them with a feeling of having no home to return to and no sense of security, to the extent of producing a mentality of resentment. This over time, inevitably leads them to shrink back at the sight, even turns around go back.

6) Strategic ideas regarding the management of human resources are extremely shallow. From government departments to employers, the sole concern is with attracting high level talent, while neglecting the vital role of base line unit worker's. This must inevitably affect the flow of mingong.

7) The overall quality (suzhi) of private business owners and managers is quite low, employment institutions insufficiently scientific and unstandardized, lacking in humanised management, the environment of many enterprises is bad, the working hours barely endurable and wages low; what the workers pay out is inconsistent with their rewards, and the [resulting] psychology of resistance leading inevitably to the mingong moving on.

8) Labor agencies have not been developed as they deserve; those seeking a job very often fail to find one. On the one hand, the role of these agencies has not been fully affirmed, while on the other, illegal work agencies have been known to entrap migrant workers, and make people see them in a worse light, thus failing to play the role they should with regard to either the migrant workers or those who employ them.

9) Three great malpractices in China's hukou control system: (a) dualistic treatment of urban and rural hukou; (b) lack of freedom of movement; (c) gaps between hukou registration and political, economic, cultural and educational rights, the system is seen to be endowed with too much added value. Dualistic treatment of urban and rural hukous, further strengthens the boundary and "dual society structure" dividing urban and rural populations, leading to two types of hukou and two kinds of regional population that are unequal as regards individual development opportunities, sets up ever more serious imbalances of economic development, and consequent growing disparities in residents' incomes. Reform of the hukou system can be delayed no longer, otherwise the current, daily more prominent "dearth of migrant workers" in the cities could further intensify, and even affect the coordinated development of city and countryside.

Scenarios for solving the dearth of migrant workers issue

1. Re-examine the original economic growth model. Given the new situation of changing pattern of labor force supply and demand, enterprises considering their own economic interests, apart from industrial upgrading and generational turnover, and structural adjustment, must also pay great attention to improving the working environment of workers, improving their wages and strengthening their skill training; this has provides a turning point in the transformation of the economic growth model, and realizing the humanist scientific approach to development.

2. Establishment of an orderly labor market which responds to information about supply and demand is taking place right now. Establishment of an improved information network for labor force supply and demand, and the issue of setting up stable cooperation between labor-exporting and –employing regions is on the agenda.

(3), local authorities should fulfill their responsibilities and create good employment environments for rural migrant workers. They should adopt powerful methods to lead enterprises to play their own part. The government should intensify the enforcement supervision of labour laws, protect workers' legitimate rights and interests, and creates a good employment environment for rural migrant workers.

4) Gradually drive forward with reform of the hukou system from smaller to larger cities, in the foundation of changing the long-time dualistic separation of city and countryside, formulating practical and feasible measures to strip away the various interests adhering to the hukou system, de-link the interest elements—of labor, human affairs, wages, prices, education, health, social welfare, etc.—concealed in the hukou. Only then can urban and rural residents obtain equality of legal and social status, and rural migrant workers be enabled to obtain "national citizen" treatment.


* 21 November 2006长河政府管理和公务员考试研究中心： "07公考申论热点问题标本模式：民工荒及农民工权益 " ( )


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