Migration News

Migration News: "China, Taiwan Migration News Vol. 14 No. 4, October 2007 Print-Friendly Version China's economy and society are being transformed by rural-urban migration. In 1978, before market reforms began, about 70 percent of Chinese were employed in agriculture, which generated 28 percent of GDP. By 2006, only 43 percent of the 760 million Chinese workers were employed in agriculture, which generated 12 percent of GDP. At least 150 million of the 327 million agricultural workers in China are considered redundant. Farmers and especially their children are pushed out of agriculture by low incomes and pulled into urban areas by the availability of jobs. In 2006, urban residents in China had an average income of 10,500 yuan ($1,400), compared with 3,300 yuan ($440) in rural areas Government policies aim to increase rural incomes and slow rural-urban migration. Some 210 million Chinese have left the place in which they are registered. However, Chinese living in places in which they are not registered are not entitled to public housing, schooling or health care. The city of Beijing is approaching its ceiling of 18 million people, including 12 million permanent residents who have the Beijing hukou, or household registration certificates, and over five million migrants. Taiwan. The Council of Labor Affairs in July 2007 announced that it would issu"