About the author
Hu Chenyu, Master Student, School of Finance, University of International Business and Economics;Tian Huimin, associate researcher, Ph.D. in economics, Planning and Research Institute of China Development Bank.
The "China County Economic Development Report 2024" (published by the National Academy of Administration Press), written by experts organized by the Organizing Committee of the China County Economic Development Conference, will be published in the first half of next year. This article is part of chapter XI of the report.
The county is an important hub connecting rural areas and cities, and an important carrier of future urbanization. With the in-depth promotion of the new urbanization and rural revitalization strategies, there is an obvious trend of migrant workers returning from major labor export areas, and the employment radius of local migrant workers has extended from "township" to "county". It is an important aspect to promote the high-quality development of counties by grasping the key elements of county-level farmers' citizenization and realizing county-level farmers' citizenization.
1. The current situation of urbanization of farmers at the county level
From a narrow point of view, the citizenization of peasants mainly refers to the process in which migrant workers and peasants who enter cities obtain the same legal status and social rights as urban residents, such as the right to vote, the right to residence, the right to education, the right to labor and social security, etc. From a broad point of view, peasant citizenization refers to the process of social change in the process of China's modernization, with industrialization and urbanization as the driving force, to promote the transformation of existing traditional peasants into urban citizens in various aspects such as identity, occupation, social status, social rights, production and lifestyle, and to integrate into urban civilization, that is, human urbanization. The urbanization of peasants is not simply a process of changing the agricultural household registration to an urban household registration, but a process in which the population who has been transferred from the rural areas to the cities and towns can equally enjoy the social welfare and political rights of urban residents while undergoing urban-rural migration and occupational changes, and become urban residents and fully integrate into urban society.
The essence of urbanization lies in the urbanization of people, that is, the urbanization of peasants. The development of the county economy can accelerate the process of becoming a citizen of farmers, and the citizenization of farmers will also promote the continuous development of the county economy. However, it is not an easy task to become a peasant citizen, and it is a dynamic and gradual process that includes personal transformation, economic transformation, and social transformation, which is not only the transformation of peasants' social identity and occupation, nor is it just the transfer of the spatial area of residence, but also the change of ideology, social rights, and behavior patterns.
In May 2022, the General Office and the General Office of the Communist Party of China issued the "Opinions on Promoting Urbanization Construction with County Towns as Important Carriers", which clarified the development goals and specific tasks of urbanization construction with county towns as important carriers.
Promoting urbanization requires deepening the reform of the household registration system, so as to realize the urbanization of farmers. According to statistics, China's urbanization rate by permanent population is 6472% (as of the end of 2021), while the urbanization rate based on registered population is only 467%, a difference of 18 percentage points. Behind this number is 2Although more than 500 million migrant workers have entered cities and towns (including county towns and organized towns), they have not shared the civilization of cities and towns (including county towns and organized towns), such as medical care and children's education. This involves several major institutional reforms, which are recommended to be resolved by accelerating the reform of the household registration system and related supporting systems. Although the dual structure of urban and rural areas in China is gradually being eliminated, the two-way flow of factors is still greatly hindered, and the virtuous circle of two-way flow of elements from "from township to city" and "from city to countryside" needs to be further formed. Due to the slow pace of reform of the urban and rural household registration system, and the public services provided by the city mainly for local residents, the dual urban and rural household registration system and the social public service system have become the main obstacles for migrant workers to integrate into the city. Although the state has introduced a series of policies to relax urban hukou restrictions, the hukou reform in some cities has still not been relaxed for migrant workers entering the city, or has set a high threshold for moving in, which makes it difficult for migrant workers to move in. At present, most of the rural migrants who do not have urban household registration mainly live in the city in the form of residence permits, and although they can also enjoy some of the treatment of urban residents, there are great differences between residence permits and household registration in terms of identity, political status, economic status, social identity, etc.
2. Problems existing in the urbanization of farmers at the county level
Although the restrictions on mobile household registration at the county level have been lifted, the willingness of migrant workers to settle down has not increased significantly. The reasons for this are the weak industrial agglomeration at the county level, the lag of infrastructure and public services at the county level, and the slow progress of urban and rural reform, all of which affect the willingness of migrant workers to settle down. The families of migrant workers who are stably employed in the county have not yet truly enjoyed the "same city" treatment such as housing security, pension insurance, and children's schooling, which has also led to the low accessibility of migrant workers' "urbanization with their families". Therefore, the key to further improving the quality of urbanization of migrant workers at the county level is to solve the three major problems of "difficulty in stable employment, difficulty in decent housing, and difficulty in settling down with peace of mind".
In 2021, Linyi City, Shandong Province, organized the counties and districts under its jurisdiction to carry out a special investigation on the urbanization of migrant workers employed at the county level, and through a combination of written research and on-site visits, it was found that there are still problems in the urbanization of migrant workers employed at the county level, such as high pressure on housing demand, difficulty in giving up rural rights and interests, and limitations in the direction of employment. The urban-rural dual household registration system not only divides the national labor market into two independent parts, urban and rural, but also further divides the urban labor market into primary and secondary labor markets. Due to the low level of education and vocational skills of migrant workers, their employment opportunities have been greatly restricted, and a large number of migrant workers have been forced to enter the secondary labor market to engage in informal work, they lack the necessary social insurance, their incomes are low, and they cannot obtain the same employment environment and labor protection as urban workers, and migrant workers are owed wages from time to time. In addition, due to the "dual structure" education system of urban and rural and regional differences, land ownership divided between urban and rural areas, high housing prices and poor living conditions, these have become obstacles for migrant workers to integrate into the city.
In addition to the above-mentioned institutional factors, whether the personal qualities of peasants can be improved, and how they use their abilities, qualities, culture and psychology to adapt to urban life are also important factors affecting their urbanization process. Traditional Chinese farmers are steeped in traditional culture, and they are often conservative, lack a sense of innovation, and are less willing to take risks. They adhere to the traditional concept of emphasizing agriculture over business, attach importance to the support of blood ties and regional relations, and have an attitude of rejection towards starting a business and starting an industry. In terms of consumption concepts, they are more self-sufficient, Xi to frugality and accumulation of wealth. They have a strong dependence on land and are not willing to give up their land contracting rights easily. These ideologies shackle peasants, make it difficult for them to integrate into modern urban life, and hinder the urbanization of peasant workers.
The key elements of peasant citizenization lie in solving the problem of household registration and employment for peasants in urban areas, and providing peasants with a sound social security system, and it is necessary to guide peasants to adapt to urban life, change peasants' backward and conservative ideological concepts, improve peasants' sense of social identity and social status, and realize human urbanization. Among them, not only do farmers need to improve their own capabilities and levels, but also need to ensure the survival and development of migrant workers in the form of laws and regulations and provide public policy support for migrant workers.
Through the analysis of the current difficulties encountered by the peasants and the existing cases of the peasants' citizenization, the following policy suggestions are summarized.
3. Policy recommendations
1) ** should actively play a leading role.
The first to lead the promotion of the reform of the household registration system, pay attention to the top-level design of the system, and coordinate the promotion of land, finance, education, employment, medical care, pension, housing security and other supporting reforms, to ensure that the relevant reforms are coordinated and form a joint force. Gradually break the dual household registration system between urban and rural areas, and then realize the transformation of the identity of farmers in urban areas.
In January 2023, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other nine departments jointly issued the "Notice on Carrying out the Quality Improvement Action of Migrant Workers in the County Urbanization" to deploy and carry out the quality improvement action of the citizenization of migrant workers at the county level. The notice pointed out that it is necessary to focus on improving the quality of migrant workers in the county, further implement the relevant policies for the citizenization of migrant workers, and strive to do a good job in the employment and entrepreneurship of migrant workers, skills training, rights and interests protection, public service supply, and service capacity improvement, and promote the equal enjoyment of basic public services by migrant workers and their relocated families in the county and their families in urban areas, and enhance the accessibility and convenience of migrant workers in the county to enjoy basic public services.
2) Improve the land system.
The current land system still has the function of social security in the era of planned economy, which is not conducive to ensuring food security, but also in fact restricts the urbanization transfer of peasants and the release of peasants from the land. Therefore, it is necessary to intensify the reform of the separation of powers in rural areas, and it is necessary to establish a county, town, and village ** rural land circulation and property rights transaction service platform to provide convenient land circulation and property rights transaction services, so that migrant workers can freely buy and sell land property rights and management rights, and transform the land assets of rural residents into living capital. Let the peasants bring their land to the cities, so as to eliminate the fetters of the land system that the peasants are citizens, truly liberate the peasant workers from the land, and promote their thorough realization of the citizens.
3) Improve the pension system.
China's current rural pension system has low security capacity, narrow coverage and insufficient security level. To this end, it is necessary to increase the overall planning of the peasant pension system, and design a reasonable and feasible peasant workers' pension insurance system, including the scope of insurance, pension insurance premiums, etc.;Increase the proportion of the state's burden on farmers' basic pensions. In order to alleviate the pension function of the land system and create pension conditions for farmers to become citizens.
4) Strengthen the equalization of public services such as education and medical systems.
In order to let farmers go to the city to become real new citizens, farmers should be allowed to enjoy education, medical and other public services that urban residents can enjoy without discrimination, and it is the basic right of citizens to enjoy basic public services, and improving the level of basic public services is the concrete embodiment of promoting people-centered new urbanization. Ensure that the newly settled population enjoys the same public services as county residents, gradually improve the level of basic public services for the non-registered permanent residents, and facilitate the urbanization of farmers. To this end, the intensity of investment should be proportional to the speed of urbanization of farmers.
5) Increase the state's investment in the county economy.
In fact, the county is the most ideal place for farmers to become citizens, first, they do not leave their homeland, second, the cost is lower, and third, they are both workers and farmers. However, due to the lack of input, in fact, many counties are unable to provide enough jobs for the peasants, and Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou cannot retain them, nor can the county retain them. This effectively makes them known as migratory birds, migrating between rural and urban areas. Therefore, it is necessary to increase investment in the county economy, create more jobs for farmers, and allow more farmers to become citizens in the county.
6) Build a multi-level and all-round vocational skills training system for farmers.
Further improve the institutional mechanism of vocational education and skills training, and integrate vocational education and training resources. Focus on industries with prominent employment contradictions, aim at the needs of industrial development, and take enterprises that absorb more migrant workers as the main body of training, cultivate a new generation of migrant workers, and improve the employment competitiveness of the agricultural transfer population. Organize a variety of urban cultural activities to attract migrant workers to participate, let them feel the unique charm and diversity of the city, and further promote their integration into the urban society. They can adapt to the modern urban society and market economy, get rid of the feudal superstition, family-style, closed and conservative mode of thinking, become modern citizens, and realize the urbanization of people.
Case: Urbanization of farmers in Jinjiang, Fujian
In terms of how to guide farmers to become citizens, Jinjiang gave a satisfactory answer. Twenty years ago, Jinjiang paid early attention to guiding the transfer of surplus local rural labor to non-agricultural fields, and began the process of becoming a citizen of its peasants. In 2002, Jinjiang launched the reform of the urban management system of "changing towns into streets, villages into residences, farmers into residents, and urban areas for comprehensive adjustment".Since then, successive municipal governments have continued to promote the work of urbanization of the agricultural population, attaching great importance to the employment and social security of farmers in the process of urbanization, and began to explore the establishment of relevant employment assistance systems and social security systems for rural populations. By proposing the "three parts" to promote the re-employment of the agricultural transfer population, Jinjiang ** has alleviated the employment problems of the agricultural transfer population, and established an old-age security system covering urban and rural areas, and continuously improved the minimum social security for residents. In addition, in terms of household registration problems in the process of peasant citizenization, Jinjiang** also provides a solution. In 2012, Jinjiang continued to deepen the reform of the household registration system, and in 2012 explored the implementation of the "two divisions and two exchanges", that is, separating the homestead land from the contracted land, separating the relocation from the land circulation, exchanging the contracted land for shares, rents, and guarantees, promoting intensive land management, and changing the production mode of farmersThe homestead land is exchanged for money, housing, and locality, and the concentrated residence of the community is promoted, and the way of life of the peasants is changed. After that, Jinjiang further explored the cost-sharing mechanism for the urbanization of the agricultural transfer population, promoted the "same treatment in the same city" more steadily and sustainably, made every effort to promote the urbanization of the agricultural transfer population, and continuously accelerated the urbanization of farmers and people.