Most young Chinese migrant workers have a strong desire to live in cities instead of returning to the countryside farm, a major survey has found.

The survey findings by the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), one of the world's largest anti-poverty alliances, show 59.3 percent of migrant workers polled want their families to live in an urban area and 41.4 percent hope to settle in cities.

At present, China has between 130 million to 150 million migrant workers as a result of the country's large demand for labor to power its sizzling economic growth.

The GCAP survey was based on interviews with 2,568 migrant workers in six municipalities and provinces including Beijing, Anhui and Sichuan.

The desire to live in a city is pervasive despite the fact that many workers live in poverty and can be ineligible for benefits such as social security, medical care and education.

According to the poll, the average monthly income for male migrant workers is 1,233 yuan (US$180), while female workers earn 992 yuan.

This compared with the average monthly income of 1,315 yuan for urban people.

About 79.4 percent of migrant workers said they work in the city to earn more money for their poor families. A total of 77.9 percent of respondents said they work in cities to better their children's education.

More than 62.5 percent of respondents believe that professional training would make it easier for them to get a job or set up their own business.

Dou Yan, a 35-year-old migrant worker from Henan Province who moved to Tianjin with her husband two years ago, said she found work helping patients in a local hospital.

Dou said the professional training she had received brought her many benefits.

"The average monthly salary is about 3,000 yuan, which is much higher than my friends from home. Moreover, I have won the confidence and trust of most patients for my professional nursing skill," she said.

More than 50 percent of respondents in the survey said they had not received any kind of training. About 33.7 percent of people said they had attended one training program, and 7.2 percent had received two or more forms of training.

Migrant workers get professional training from local governments near their rural homes. But since many workers move away after the training, most governments do not organize training programs.

"Local governments in regions where rural migrant workers flow in should shoulder more responsibility in the organization of professional training," said Tang Yuanxiong, a sociology lecturer at Lanzhou University.

Many migrant workers also have no understanding of the country's special preferential policies, such as eligibility for loans to set up their own business, Tang said.

(China Daily January 8, 2010)