Transcript: Press conference on new urbanization plan

Wen Wei Po (Hong Kong): We have noticed that China's new urbanization has focused on resettling approximately 100 million rural migrant workers and other permanent urban residents in cities and towns. My question is, how will you guarantee the goal can be achieved and how will you reform the household registration system? How will you guarantee that migrant workers will be entitled to a series of public services, including employment, technical and skills training and social security?

Huang Ming: Thanks for your concern about the reform of the household registration system. I would like to talk about the process. In line with the 18th CPC National Congress and the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Public Security and the National Development and Reform Commission collaborated with the rest of the ministries present here and drafted the "Opinions on Further Pushing Forward Household Registration System Reform" after rounds of investigation and deliberation on our experience. Last year, we collected many public opinions on the paper. Then, after the Central Urbanization Work Conference in December, we improved and modified the draft in light of the latest guidelines. In mid-February this year, the General Office of the State Council issued the draft to departments and the public, in order to seek more opinions. The draft is still being revised. We will submit it to the CPC Central Committee and the State Council for approval as soon as possible.

As for how to launch the reform, I can only talk about two principles, since the draft has not yet been officially ratified. First, the policies of the household registration system reform are in accordance with the Plan, and the principles of the reform are clear. We respect the people's will and will let them make their own choices. Different areas will be encouraged to implement the reform in light of their local circumstances and at their own pace. We will first settle the hukou issue for those migrant workers who have stayed in cities or towns for a very long time and who have strong skills. In the meantime we'll also gradually increase the number of graduates from universities, colleges and technical schools as well as technical workers to settle down in cities.

Second, the reform of the household registration system is in line with the goals of the new-type urbanization, and the measures and goals of reform also correspond. I can tell you that the Ministry of Public Security and the National Bureau of Statistics have made related researches and forecasts. We believe the goal to settle about 100 million people in cities and towns is practical and in line with the reality. However, the realization of the goal should not only rely on adjusting household registration policies, but also on the healthy development of urbanization, by speeding up the development of small-and-medium sized cities and towns with a population of at least 2,500, formulating relevant policies to guarantee the equal access to public services. What's more, we need to fully respect the will of the farmers.

Yang Zhiming: Thank you for your concern for the rural migrant workers. China has 269 million migrant workers, who have made great contributions to our urbanization and will do even better under the new-type urbanization. The migrant workers are entitled to basic public services, a point that is relevant to the reform of the household registration system that Vice Ministers Xu and Huang mentioned. As for your question on employment, skills, technical training and social security, we'll focus our efforts on maintaining and increasing employment for migrant workers, protecting their fundamental labor rights and interests, raising their technical abilities, encouraging them to integrate into their enterprises, helping their children to integrate into schools, their families into communities and the whole group into society.

To put it briefly, we need to guarantee 10 things for migrant workers. They are: to make sure they are employed when they move into the cities, have training before they are employed, sign contracts before joining the workforce, get paid for their jobs, get access to social security, know where to appeal for their rights and interests, live in improved conditions, spend their spare time in cultural activities, have schools for their children and set goals in their careers.

We also aim to accomplish two fundamental transformations. We will upgrade the migrant workers into modern technical workers and change their identities into urban dwellers so far as they are willing, under the concerted efforts of governments, enterprises and migrant workers. Here I would like to tell you that the plan to raise the technical skills of migrant workers has been highlighted in the New Urbanization Plan and divides into five categories. First, developing training for migrant workers to get them employed. We plan to train 10 million people each year. By 2020, each migrant worker will enjoy technical training subsidized by the government. The aim of this is to eradicate the cases in which migrant workers with no skills are employed. Second, we'll develop training for employed migrant workers to improve their work skills. By 2020, we'll train 10 million people to upgrade the majority of migrant workers from junior workers to new-type technical workers. Third, we will develop training for high-tech workers and workers who want to start their own businesses. We will train 1 million people a year, focusing on senior workers, technical workers and senior technicians. Fourth, we will develop charitable training in communities. Fifth, we will develop preparatory training in labor skills for rural middle and high school students who have not entered the next level of their education as well as for retired soldiers or soldiers who are transferred to civilian work.

According to the Plan, we will support the construction of a number of specialized training bases for migrant workers to learn technical skills, through cooperation between schools and enterprises. In summary, we will enable migrant workers to learn skills, hold diplomas, find work and earn increased salaries, so as to fundamentally solve the dilemma of the job market, whereby demands for high skilled technicians are high but cannot be met in some areas. We will do this to support the development of human resources for the new-type urbanization.

Because public services cover too many areas, we need to adopt different tactics in different areas and solve the urgent problems migrant workers face step by step. To solve these problems, we'll coordinate with relevant departments to hit the nail on the head and overcome difficulties that stand in our way. We'll help more migrant workers increase their income by developing their skills, and enjoy fundamental public services through settling down in cities and towns. Even for those who do not settle in urban areas, we'll allow them to gradually benefit from fundamental public services. We'll make relentless efforts in building modern cities and allow migrant workers and urban dwellers to share the fruits of urbanization.