Investigation and Study on Employment Status of Migrant Workers in Heilongjiang Province

Zhao Ji-ying，and Wang Yao

Marxism College，Northeast Agricultural University，Harbin 150030，China

Investigation and Study on Employment Status of Migrant Workers in Heilongjiang Province

Zhao Ji-ying，and Wang Yao

Marxism College，Northeast Agricultural University，Harbin 150030，China

With the gradual acceleration of urbanization speed and continuous improvements of agricultural productivity，the number of migrant workers is increasing. The living conditions of this group in cities determine the quality of urbanization in China，and are of great and far-reaching significance to Chinese construction of comprehensive well-off society. This study took the migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province as the research object，and took the representative new-generation migrant workers as the respondent to have a comprehensive analysis of the employment status. The study focused on these aspects，such as nature information，employment selection，employment quality，and social security，etc. Finally，it provided valuable ideas and methods on the reasonable solutions of the employment problems of the migrant workers to better increase farmers' income and improve their living qualities.

migrant worker，employment，investigation

Introduction

In recent years，Heilongjiang provincial committee and provincial government took the migrant workers into urban residents as an important job to promote the urbanization，actively and prudently deepened the reform of the household registration system，constantly improved the equalization level of the public services，and thus the migrant workers into urban residents have obtained marked achievements. The transforming rural labor force in Heilongjiang Province was growing year by year，from 3.57 million people in 2004 to 5.358 million people in 2012. And the service revenue is also increasing from 10.6 billion Yuan in 2004 to 47.5 billion Yuan. The proportion of urban population was increasing from 52.8% in 2004 to 56.9% in 2012. In 2010，the urbanization rate of Heilongjiang Province reached 56%，was 2.9% higher than that in 2005. By the end of 2012，the urbanization rate of Heilongjiang Province had been promoted to 56.5%，5.2% higher than that of the national average.

With the improvement of agricultural production efficiency，the number of migrant workers is increasing gradually in recent years，especially the increasing proportion of the migrant workers after 80s and 90s，so the analysis on employment status of the new-generation migrant workers is very typical. Through the investigation of the employment status of this group，we can better make an analysis of the employment problem of the migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province.

Materials and Methods

Document retrieval

In the process of writing this paper，the relevantinformation needs to be obtained by browsing and searching massive amounts of data，such as China Labor Statistical Yearbook，China Agriculture Yearbook，Population and Labor Employment Problem Report in Heilongjiang Province，China's Migrant Workers and Social Protection，and so on. In addition，it also includes the statistical data from State Statistics Bureau and massive data from the investigation and analysis of the employment of the agricultural population in Heilongjiang Province.

Direct questionnaire

From December in 2012 to June in 2013，the author took the new-generation migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province as the respondent，released 1 300 questionnaires in regarding to their employment status by taking random samples with 1 170 copies back，and the validated questionnaires were of 1 080 copies. This investigation involved about 3 000 observed objects in Heilongjiang Province，and the investigation content included education level of the individual，age，experience，gender，family characteristics，and the information of other aspects. The data covered the personal profile，employment status，social relations，social integration，and population management of the new-generation migrant workers.

Combined methods of qualitative and quantitative analyses

The qualitative analysis was about abstract theoretical thinking of the properties，characteristics，forms，and other aspects of things，while the quantitative analyses were about concrete quantitative study of things. In the practical analysis，the two were linked together. This paper cited massive data in the analysis of the current employment status of the new-generation migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province with the method of quantitative analyses. And the method of qualitative analysis was adopted in the historical evaluation of foreign migrant workers flow，career preference and employment difficulties of the new-generation migrant workers，and other problems.

Result

Since Heilongjiang Province is a big agricultural province with numerous migrant workers，it is representative to make relevant investigations of the employability of new-generation migrant workers. This investigation included rich information，such as individual level of education，age，experience，gender，family characteristics，and etc. In the meanwhile，the work history of the laborers，since 2007 was collected into this investigation，including changes in the work，working condition，income and expenditure，family members，and other information. The investigation structure covered the indicators of main structural elements about the employability of new-generation migrant workers，the indicators of urban-rural migration intentions，and the indicators of social integration （Li and Wang，2011）. And the data contained the individual basic information of new-generation migrant workers，the employment situation，the residence and life，the guarantee of rights and interests，the family and children's education，the social relations，the social integration，the population management，and other problems. The data used for research in this article all came from these investigations.

Nature information of new-generation migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province

From the investigation of the new-generation migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province，we could find that the sex ratio was almost the same. By age，the proportion of the migrant workers above 56 years old was 0.6%，and the proportion of the migrant workers below 30 years old was the largest. The senior migrant workers were relatively small in proportion，which showed that the migrant workers would become less and less with the growing of the age. The newgeneration migrant workers were mainly above the junior middle school education or undergraduate，which showed that the educational level of the newgeneration migrant workers in Heilongjiang Provincetended to be improved obviously. According to the investigation of the marital status of the new-generation migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province，the proportion of the married people was 33%，and the unmarried accounted for 67%，which showed that the marriage problem of the new-generation migrant workers was a serious issue that the modern society should try to solve.

Fig. 1　Access to work of new-generation migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province

Selection of employment channels

The most common sources of the migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province are to obtain jobs through the reference from relatives or friends，and the labor market. From Fig. 1，it could be seen，these two sources respectively account for 33.9% and 24.7%. Then，the proportion of the jobs obtained through personnel exchange centre was 16.1%，the number of job-hopping was 13.6%，the number of migrant workers who established their own business was very few，only 1.7% in proportion，and the workers who seeked jobs through network were even fewer，only 0.3% in proportion. When the farmers decided to migrate，and they always got the migration information and help from their relatives or friends； after they found jobs in the city and increased their incomes，they would help new migrant workers，hence forming a network group of the migrant workers （Luo，2012）. The constant broadening of the employment channels also increased the job opportunity for the migrant workers and changes their income greatly.

Employment stability

There are many different kinds of jobs now. It is a very common phenomenon among the new-generation migrant workers to change jobs. As for the new-generation migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province. From Fig. 2，it could be seen the proportion of people who were not changing jobs was 21.9%，the proportion of people changing 2-4 jobs was 61.4%，and the proportion of others changing many jobs was very small. The modern migrant workers are able to constantly choose suitable jobs they love and continuously adjusted themselves in such colorful social life （Peng，2005）. Particularly in the tertiary industry，the position change speed of the new-generation migrant workers was faster than that of the last-generation migrant workers. We could find from the investigation that the migrant workers who changed their jobs more than five times a year accounted for about 10%，and the majority of the interviewees expressed that the reason why they changed jobs was to get better income.

Fig. 2　Number of jobs changing of new-generation migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province

Annual income status

Our economic development speed is very fast，but for the migrant workers，their annual incomes are generally not very high. From Fig. 3，it could be seen，the people with their annual incomes below 10 000 Yuan accounted for 36.9% in Heilongjiang Province，the people with their annual incomes about 10 000 Yuan to 20 000 Yuan accounted for 31.9%，those with about 20 000 Yuan to 30 000 Yuan accounted for 18.1%，those above 30 000 Yuan were of 9.2%，and the people with their annual incomes above 40 000 Yuan were very few. The income of migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province was very low. The migrant workers' families in Heilongjiang Province with their per-capita annual income belowed 3 000 Yuan accounted for 32.5%，with 3 000 to 6 000 Yuan were of 34.4%，with 6 000 to 10 000 Yuan were 20.6%，and those with their per-capita annual income above 10 000 Yuan were 12.5%. So，it can be seen that the low annual income of migrant workers directly resulted in the low per-capita annual income of their families.

Fig. 3　Annual income of migrant workers

Labor contract signing status

Labor contract is an effective measure to ensure the rights of the migrant workers. Among the migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province，the people who signed the labor contract with their work units were 49.7%，and thosewithout signing the labor contract accounted for 43.6%，which showed that almost half of those people were not guaranteed in their rights. According to the survey，almost half of the migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province did not sign the labor contract with their work units. On the basis of the response of the migrant workers，the units completely not signing the contract with workers were 11.7%，the units with parts of workers signing the contract accounted for 39.2%，and the units signing the contract with all the workers were 32.8%. The survey showed that the migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province who signed the fixed-term labor contract with their work units occupied 23.6%，those who signed the open-term labor contract were 38.1%，those who signed the period contract by completing temporary business were 18.6%，and the workers of other situations accounted for 18.9%.

Discussion

Internal and external cause led to labor transfer Income increase is the main reason for migrant workers to enter the cities，and also the internal reason for employment transfer. The income and employment relations of migrant workers are very close to each other，and most of their life sources depend on the employment income （Luo，2011）. With the continuous improve-ments of agricultural production efficiency and in-creasing number of migrant workers，the employment choices in cities that center on the newgeneration migrant workers become more and more diversified. But in the existing situation，their incomes are still lower than the per capita income level of urban residents. This is an unfair phenomenon. If the identity of "citizen" is established，such phenomenon will become less common. Overall，the employment income of migrant workers in cities is higher than the reward of the agricultural production. Even though there are some temporary difficulties，they choose to work in the city instead of going back to the countryside，which may show that the job motivation of the newgeneration migrant workers going into the cities also changes a lot，and no longer takes the income increase as their major objective. For another，the strong attraction of urban life is the external reason for employment transfer. There are many migrant workers going into the city with their goal of moving their own enterprises previously operated in the countryside to the city to reduce the operation expenses，expand the product market，and strive for the further development （Liang and Xu，2010）. On the whole，we can find from a series of surveys and analyses that there are many factors influencing the reasons for the employment transfer and job choices of the new-generation migrant workers. Take Heilongjiang Province as an example，the main reason is the high income and the attraction of city life.

Relevant conditions affecting employment quality

After the migrant workers going into the city，whether they can find suitable jobs or not are influenced by many factors. Whether they choose to start their own business or to work for other enterprises，the requirements for knowledge are different in different working fields. In terms of the general situation，their education level determines their employment level. The analysis result showed that the higher one's education level was，the higher one's proportion to go to the management layer of enterprises or companies，and the lower one's proportion to engage in temporary work （Li，2012）. The desire and capability of starting business are relatively strong in the employed of three levels containing high school，technical secondary school，and junior college. There are two main reasons why migrant workers start their own business: one is for "developing themselves" and the other is for "earning money". We can see a tendency from the proportion sequence of the employment sectors that the migrant workers with different educational levels engaged in that the production department with higher technical content will require higher cultural level of the employed； the lower the educational level is，the narrower the occupational direction is，and theworse the working stability becomes； the higher the educational level is，the broader the occupational direction is，and the better the working stability becomes.

Restriction of existing system to employment choice

China carried out the dual household registration system，and different household registration could directly lead to the differences in work. Among the migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province，the people with urban residential registration account for 38.9%，and the people still with the rural residential registration occupy 56.4%. The existence of such household registration system brings much inconvenience to the work of migrant workers （Li，1991）. After the migrant workers working in the city，they certainly hope that they can get steady jobs and thus obtain stable incomes to guarantee their life and to live permanently in the city. But the lack of employment support system makes the migrant workers difficult to get a satisfactory job in city. Now most of the stable jobs are obtained through informal ways introduced by relatives or friends，which showed that the relatively better jobs had high recruit standards for the migrant workers，and it's quite difficult to get a job through formal ways like the labor market. However，normal job changes might not be a bad thing for the migrant workers，and work unsteadiness did not mean the low income. As they stay longer in the city，they can change jobs to those suitable for them.

Influence of channel access to employment information

When part of agricultural people decided to transfer employment，the access to information and help is always from relatives and friends. After this group of people getting jobs and desired incomes，they will contact and help other persons in employment transfer，hence forming a network of emigration with local characteristics （Zhang and Liu，2008）. Among these people，there is a big part of them who will become the people with high income through starting their own business. In this way，they will imperceptibly influence the economy and cultures where they live，facilitate the new migrant workers to go into the cities，and accelerate the urbanization on the rails under such conditions of continuous development.

We can find from the survey that the proportion of the migrant workers got jobs in cities from the introduction of relatives and friends was still very high and reached 33.9%. Along with social economic development，the working channel of migrant workers going for jobs in city became broader，the proportion of finding jobs through other channels was greatly improved，and even some persons could get jobs through online recruitment，network media，and other modern information channels. The expansion of employment channels also made the job opportunities and income of migrant workers change a lot. At present，there are many channels to work in companies and factories，and the migrant workers can go to work through various means （Zhang，2011）. But relatively speaking，if the migrant workers want to be selfemployed，the employment channel will become narrower and it needs to realize by mainly relying on their own efforts. The migrant workers with high income in cities will choose their employment channel more flexibly and find a job suitable for them through various means in order to increase their incomes and improve their living standards in cities.

Social security condition of migrant workers

The basic insurance on the migrant workers in China is mainly divided into four categories，including the endowment insurance，the medical insurance，the unemployment insurance and the insurance against injury at work. According to the survey，the proportion of those fully insured is extremely low among the migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province. The labor safety and the sanitation security are important guarantee related to the personal safety and health of the staff. In accordance with the investigation，more than 70 percent of the migrant workers inHeilongjiang Province are unsatisfied with the labor safety and the sanitation security of their units or corporations. The high proportion meant that the hidden danger of the labor safety and the substandard sanitary condition were common in many units and corporations of Heilongjiang Province.

The survey data analysis showed that the labor relations had been greatly improved，and the employment stability had been enhanced as well，however，we are still faced with many problems. Especially as the implementation of the new Labor Contract Law，the signing rate of the labor contract had been raised substantially，and the employment stability has been enhanced among the migrant workers. But also，we must notice that the rights and interests of labors of the migrant workers haven't been protected at present，such as the poor labor and sanitary condition，the arrears and reduction of wages，and etc.，which we severe problems. In the meanwhile，there are still some prominent issues，for instance，the migrant workers don't pay the social insurance by rule，cannot enjoy the legal holiday normally，and etc. Therefore，we still need to make great efforts in solving these problems （Song，2012）.

Conclusions

To promote the comprehensive qualities of the migrant workers: since the personal qualities of the new generation of migrant workers in Heilongjiang Province remain to be further improved，we should strengthen the compulsory and vocational education to promote the personal qualities of the new generation of migrant workers. Moreover，we should balance urban and rural education，establish various vocational training systems of the new generation of migrant workers，and create sound and normative market circumstances. In the meanwhile，we should always intensify，supervise and guide the skill training of the new generation of the migrant workers，continuously improve the overall quality of the new generation of migrant workers combined with the actual local conditions，and provide more comprehensive guarantees for the urban development and the employment.

To establish the unified labor market and the employment information system: the authorities of various regions should phase out the unreasonable institutional restrictions on employment，and root out the chaos，such as the unreasonable charges，and etc. And it is necessary to establish the system of communication for information in the unified labor market，to offer more assistance to the intermediary organs，and to improve the socialized service system，such as the employment information and vocational counseling，the occupation introduction，and etc. What's more，we should deepen the reform of household registration system，and clear the institutional obstacles for the establishment and improvement of the unified labor market in urbans and rural areas. At the same time，the prediction and planning on the new generation of migrant workers should be made in accordance with the management and development strategy of the enterprise，and the employed new generation of migrant workers should be allocated appropriately based on the planning and the principle of person-post matching.

To improve the social security system of the new generation of the migrant workers: we should establish and implement the on-job injury insurance system which is shared by the state-owned enterprises as soon as possible，strengthen the protection of the employment security provided by enterprises related to the new generation of migrant workers，ensure that the migrant workers can obtain the effective guarantee and compensation after the accidents，and make great efforts in the improvement of the medical insurance mechanism in particular. And it is necessary to take measures to protect the new generation of the migrant workers who have no stable occupations and often migrate from place to place in line with local conditions. In a word，as a special community，the migrant workers have made significant contributions to the construction of cities and towns. Therefore，we should establish the multilevel social security system in order to let the migrant workers share theachievements of social development，and enjoy their happy lives.

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F323.6 Document code: A Article ID: 1006-8104（2015）-01-0083-08

16 November 2014

Supported by the Social Science Research in Heilongjiang （13B007）； the Post-doctoral Scientific Research in Heilongjiang Province （LBH-Q14028）

Zhao Ji-ying （1972-），female，professor，engaged in the research of the localization of Marxism in China and contemporary rural development. E-mail: zhaojy 1972@163.com