Social Protection for Rural-urban Migrants in China: The challenge of mobility and multi-local identities by Dr Yu Zhu

Abstract:

Based on two recent surveys of rural-urban migrants and subsequent in-depth interviews with them, their employers and officials of relevant government departments in Fujian Province, a major destination area of rural-urban migrants in China, this paper examines the complexity of mobility patterns of rural-urban migrants and the emergence of their multi-local identities, and their implications for social protection of rural-urban migrants in China. It analyzes the characteristics of rural-urban migrants and their migration process, and their complex and diversified needs of social protection arising from such characteristics, and examines the current approaches of social protection for rural-urban migrants in such context, suggesting that the extension of urban- and residence-based approaches is inadequate in meeting the needs of rural-urban migrants for social protection. The paper also explores the conceptual and policy implications of the above analysis, focusing on the limitation of the conceptual framework of urban inclusion and exclusion in guiding the discussion of social protection for rural-urban migrants, and some practical issues such as the portability of social protection programs and their institutional basis and financing mechanism.

Yu ZHU is Professor, School of Geography; and Director, Center for Population and Development Research, Fujian Normal University in China. He is also Chair of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP)’s Scientific Panel on the Impact of Internal Migration and Urbanization in Developing Countries, Chair of Asia and Pacific Migration Research Network, member of the International Advisory Board of UN Habitat’s State of World’ Cities Report 2010/2011, Member of the first International Advisory Group of the IOM Migration Research and Training Centre, Council Member of China Population Association, Member of CPA’s Committee on Migration and Urbanization, and Deputy Director of the Committee on Population Geography, the Geographical Society of China. He received his Ph.D. from Demography Program at the Australian National University, and his research interests straddle the two disciplines of demography and human geography, focusing on issues relating to migration and urbanization.

Currently professor Yu Zhu is a visiting researcher in ISS, as part of the activities of the project on “Migration, Gender and Social Justice” financed by IDRC.  More information about the project available in http://www.iss.nl/research/research_programmes/international_migration_and_human_security/projects/idrc/

http://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/ResearchReport01FINAL.pdf

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