Hukou System Reform Urgently Needed

　　China’s urban population accounted for 52.57 percent of the country’s total by the end of 2012 according to the official figure. A large proportion of new urban residents are migrant workers who left the countryside to find jobs in cities. However， under the rigid household registration system， the large legion of migrants doesn’t have equal access to public services in cities.

　　Ahead of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on November 9 to 12， people once again called for reforms to the household registration system， or hukou system， via various media outlets. The following are excerpts of the discussion：

　　Li Qiang (China Youth Daily)： While absorbing migrant populations into the urban industrial system， cities should help them find their way toward an urban lifestyle. The household registration system， which completely ignores the place a person currently resides， lags behind demands of time and has an adverse impact on urban administration.

　　Many surveys show that the majority of migrant workers no longer work on farmland or live in the countryside， while many even grew up in cities. However， under the household registration system， they are still registered as rural residents. A lot of people are no longer permanent residents of places where their hukou are registered， which means that hukou-based administration fails the realities of rapid Chinese urbanization.

　　Urban life often features advantages such as more job opportunities as well as better medical and educational resources. It is understandable that many rural people， especially the young， are moving to cities from the countryside. Although migrant workers have met with a lot of difficulty in being absorbed by local communities， their eagerness to share the resources cities offer has not dampened.

　　According to a survey conducted by Tsinghua University， more than 21 percent of migrant workers who are registered as rural residents have purchased properties in cities. A priority of future reform should be in allowing trans-regional mobility of social security accounts.

　　People who live in cities other than the place of their household registration can be divided into two categories： those from a rural family and those from a smaller city. Comparatively speaking， people from the second category have even more urgent demands over household registration system reforms， especially college graduates， as the lack of a hukou in cities can affect their social security benefits. Therefore， reform should meet the demands of different categories of people.

　　Reform designers should also map out different policies for cities of different sizes. Since the beginning of 1995， trial reforms have been carried out across China. Now， the Ministry of Public Security allows all local governments to conduct new trials， a big step in progress. Reform of the hukou system should be conducted step by step.

　　Wang Yukai (www.youth.cn)： Without reforming hukou system， other related reforms such as letting migrant workers enjoy equal access to public services and the transfer of land-use rights in rural areas won’t make headway. This increases the urgency of hukou system reform. One problem that needs to be solved pertains to the possible overpopulation of megacities such as Beijing and Shanghai once migrant populations are allowed to register their hukou there. Therefore， cities of different sizes should adopt different household registration policies. Moreover， reform is not only focused on allowing more people to register their hukou in cities. The latter must provide new residents with necessary resources， while also creating job opportunities.

　　Ye Tan (www.nbd.com.cn)： China’s latest round of urbanization necessitates a new round of reforms on household registration featuring openness， liberalization and mobility-friendliness. Nobody questions the meaningfulness of such reform while discussions center on the enforcement level， such as fairer funding for social security benefits.

　　Under China’s current fiscal and taxation system， a local government’s budget income is drawn from higher level authorities， while its size depends on its household registration population. Therefore， local governments are willing to shoulder the expenses for distributing social security benefits among people with local hukou.

　　For example， in order to allow the children of migrant workers to receive free compulsory education at a local school， large cities have to strain their educational budget. A more fair solution could be to require governments of places where these families register their hukou to issue education coupons， which can be used in cities where they currently reside. Thus， the financial burden on cities of their current residence can be reduced.

　　Meanwhile， China’s social welfare system is based on outdated practice. Although many local trial reforms intend to abolish the difference between rural and urban residents， they are only partially successful at best.

　　Local governments are not very enthusiastic about pushing thorough reforms as they are obliged to create jobs for farmers who have become urban residents， even though most are poorly educated and have received minimum vocational training. Meanwhile， regional governments across China can benefit from the current status quo as they have invested in a large number of infrastructure projects， which can hire farmers as laborers.

　　Meanwhile， the core of China’s social welfare system reform is to stop treating rural and urban residents differently. Reform should not be targeted at building “a welfare state” such as in France and Germany. Instead， China should look to the United States as a model to improve its social welfare system.

　　Reform of China’s household registration system must be advanced. Without it， the country’s urbanization campaign， adjustment of economic structure and drive to build a modern country would be insufficient in promoting economic growth. In the meantime， reform must be carefully designed to be enforceable， seeing as too dramatic a change within a short period of time could backfire.

　　Yang Zhiyong (Guangzhou Daily)： Basically， hukou at different places represents different levels of public services a person is entitled to. Usually， an urban hukou is highly sought after as it stands for better public services in employment， medical care and education.

　　Since the beginning of China’s reform and opening up at the end of the 1970s， cities have been creating a lot of job opportunities， some of which are filled by migrant workers. However， not many of them are able to obtain an urban hukou. As a result， a lot of migrants travel between different cities to find jobs without settling， an important factor behind the extremely high traffic load around the Spring Festival. Many of these workers want an urban hukou， a desire that is particularly strong among younger generations who grew up in cities and only visit the countryside during holidays.

　　In the short term， reform designers need to work to narrow the difference in public services offered to rural and urban residents， which has also been set as an important target by public policy decision-makers. However， realizing such a goal takes time.

　　As the government has been increasing investment in social security programs over the recent years， especially via the new rural cooperative medical scheme and new rural pension program， public services enjoyed by rural residents have been improving. The urban-rural gap， in terms of social welfare benefits， has narrowed. Meanwhile， with the development of a market economy， an urban hukou no longer means more job opportunities as most employers recruit candidates based on their particular merits.

　　In reality， even among people with urban hukou， those of different professions also enjoy pensions， medical insurance and educational resources in differing ways. In contrast， people with a rural hukou can always rely on proceeds from their farmland. During China’s urbanization， farmland can provide owners with lucrative income from means other than agricultural production. For example， farmers whose land is expropriated will receive a large sum of compensation from the government. Therefore， some farmers who can apply for an urban hukou， choose to stick to their original residence.