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Peripheral citizens -- The 2nd generation of migrant workers
(china.org.cn)
Updated: 2005-12-27 15:21
Although most of the new generation migrant workers don't send money home,
many still spend all of their monthly salaries. The more common reasons cited
for not being able to save include "everything in the city is expensive" and
"low salaries."
Liu's conclusion is that the new generation of migrant worker doesn't have
the same pressures that his predecessor had. For instance, they now don't have
to worry too much about their families' education, basic living expenses or
farming materials.
Another change that researchers have noticed is that the new generation is
generally less willing to take on physically backbreaking work. The previous
generation likened physical labor to farming, but not so for the new generation.
Wang Chunguang conducted a survey in 2000 on the new generation migrant
worker in Hanghzou, Shenzhen and Wenzhou. He distributed 600 questionnaires and
received 396 valid responses. The results of his survey were published in 2003
in Zhejiang Social Sciences, a bimonthly publication.
Wang told China Newsweek: "The new generation has had at least an elementary
or secondary education. Their growing-up environment was much better than their
parents' and many of them are only children or have only one sibling. We also
found that many employers are unhappy with the new generation of migrant worker.
One reason being they job-hop. Many of them are also enrolled in evening classes
to improve themselves, which means they are unable to do any overtime."
The ICO, of which Liu is a director, operates reading rooms, computer and
English retraining courses especially for migrant workers. "It doesn't hurt to
learn," a female migrant worker told China Newsweek.
This change in work habits and practices is driving up the bottom-line of the
cheap labor force. And with greater social development, the bottom-line will
rise even further, thereby driving up manpower costs.
A professor on migrant worker issues from the Chinese University of Hong Kong
(CUHK) related an incident where a female migrant worker sent him a multimedia
message on the mobile phone. Unfortunately, his phone model is so old that it
was unable to read the message. He later found out that over 70 percent of the
new generation migrant workers own mobile phones, most of which are new models
with color screens and polyphonic ring tones.
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