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Social inequalities in China’s urban areas

Social inequalities in China’s urban areas. By Matthew Gleeson and Henry Sadler-Dawe. Main Groups. Migrants Struggle to find good jobs in cities – often their jobs don’t give them employed status so they miss out on many health benefits. Poor living conditions Unskilled workers

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Social inequalities in China’s urban areas

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  1. Social inequalities in China’s urban areas By Matthew Gleeson and Henry Sadler-Dawe

  2. Main Groups • Migrants • Struggle to find good jobs in cities – often their jobs don’t give them employed status so they miss out on many health benefits. • Poor living conditions • Unskilled workers • Less demand since companies have industrialised • Struggle to find work • Often live in crowded areas • Industrial protests at working conditions and pay etc.

  3. Main Groups • Skilled workers • High demand in new high tech businesses • Highly paid in comparison to some • Many are able to afford decent housing that migrants and unskilled workers cannot • Business owners • ‘New Rich’ of China, benefitted most from the huge amounts of FDI • Often bribe authorities allowing them to work around certain rules. E.g. pay bribes to ensure their children get into the best schools.

  4. Employment inequalities • Rapid urban development in China is the last 30 years has led to a rise in the service industry and high tech sectors. • Brings disproportionate rewards to the most highly skilled workers. • State of living is poor for unskilled workers (‘bang bang’ men in Chongqing – 20 workers to a house ) • Decline in SOEs led to large lay offs – large amounts of unemployed workers as there is now a limited number of well paid skilled jobs available.

  5. Chongqing • Set in the middle reaches of the Yangtze • 0.5 net migrant income to the city each year. • ‘bang bang’ men • £1.50 for 12 hours work • Cramped apartments – poor living areas • ‘Education and health care – free in the days of Mao – are now the biggest burden on peasants. • Forced away from their homes in the countryside to get more money, leaving family behind and sending money back. • Violent industrial protests • For the rich, they spend more on a might’s entertainment than a ‘bang bang’ man earns in a good month. • Migrant children cannot afford to go to school, many end up working to get as much money for the family as possible.

  6. Social benefits • Unemployment often means exclusion from social services such as education, health, retirement benefits and social security. • 67% of migrant children pay higher school fees than permanent locals. • State paid 66% of all healthcare cost in 1988 • Down to 22% in 2002. • Proportion of expenditures related to both education and health has more than doubled in the bottom 20% of registered households in this time • In 2006, 22 million urban residents were in poverty, accounted for 4.1% of urban population this was only 3.6% in 1993.

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