Internal Migration Analysis

Internal migration is when people migrate within the same country or region. Generally, it occurs as people search for a better standard of living and move to places that offer it, which in most cases is from rural areas to urban areas. “Since 1978, China has experienced the most extensive internal migration”. (IN TEXT CITE) As we know, internal migration is one of the most important factor contributed in the rapid development in China that shaped the nation into an essential group on the international market. Not only that through the process of internal migration, disparities should in theory be reduced. Yet, in China it seems like even though internal migration shrank the gaps of economic and social inequalities, the truth is, it opened

Economic disparities comprise all the inequality in the distribution of economics which includes: income, employment, remittances, and labor. In China, the huge gap of economic disparities is caused by the household registration (hukou) system. Through this system, the government distributes their residences, jobs, and access to social services. In order to transfer to another hukou, high amount of money must be paid for the government’s approval. Since not many citizens can afford the payment, most migrants did not receive approval from the government. Therefore, most of the migrants are only able to get jobs from the informal economy sector, while the others work in the formal economy sector. In terms of employment wage around 30% earn an average of RMB 300-500 per month; approximately “40% earn between RMB 500-800” and only 28% receive more than RMB 800 (IN TEXT CITATION). Not only that 76% of the migrant laborers “worked overtime during the holidays, but did not receive the pay that they were entitled to”, reveals the unfair treatment for the migrant laborers (IN TEXT CITATION). With the huge inequality in employment, among 2002 to 2007, the income ratio of the richest 10% and the poorest 10% in China boasted from “19:1 to 25:1” (IN TEXT CITATION) hence the enormous gap of income between the rich and poor caused by internal migration.

By referring to the inter-provincial migration map above it demonstrates that most migration outflows from central parts of China and inflows in the more developed eastern provinces. The maps below express the continuous rise in the population of the Eastern China from 1953 to 2000. It is identified in 2000 around half of Eastern China obtain the population density above 400 person/km2. Yet, on average the worldwide human population density is around13.7person/km2. This indicates that by looking at demographic in China, internal migration causes overpopulation in eastern China, which can trigger depletion of resources, degradation of environment, rise in unemployment, high cost of living, and conflicts and wars. Not only that, since most of the internal migrants do not have approval from the government, they do not have access to most social services. Therefore, occupational safety and health is a huge problem for the migrant workforce. According to International Labor Organization, statistics illustrates from 2000 to 2004 the amount of workplace accidents increased from 100,000 up to 136,000 fatalities and roughly “90% of patients suffering from workplace-related diseases are migrant workers” (IN TEXT CITATION). At the same time, due to the low wages