Welfare program participation among rural-to-urban migrant workers in China

An estimated 225 million Chinese people have migrated to cities from China's rural areas over the past two decades. These rural-to-urban migrant workers have greatly challenged China's welfare system. The pre-reform welfare system was a duel scheme with an urban-rural distinction in which rural residents were not covered by state-run welfare programs and had to rely on their families and rural collectives. The development of employment-based social insurance programs in 1999 made social welfare programs available for rural-to-urban migrant workers. Using an anonymous survey conducted in seven cities across China in 2006, we found that social insurance program participation rates were low among rural-to-urban migrant workers. Individual factors, including lack of knowledge of welfare programs and of a willingness to participate, and macro-level factors, including type of employer and industry, are critical in determining migrant workers' participation in welfare programs. Implications for policies and practice are discussed.