2011-02-28 10:40

BEIJING - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday that the government will strive to end discrimination against rural migrant workers in employment, education and training.

The government was mulling more measures to reform the household registration system, or hukou, in an active and steady manner, and a policy circular in this regard would be published, Wen said.

Efforts would be made to target the practical problems facing rural people working in cities, he said in answer to a question during an online chat with the public.

"Most importantly, farmers-turned-workers and their kids should never face discrimination when pursuing jobs, receiving compulsory education and training just because they are farmers under the household registration system," Wen said.

The legitimate land rights of rural migrant workers must also be safeguarded, he said.

Many rural migrant workers had no stable work in the cities and their land in hometown was their fundamental guarantee for living, he said.

Wen said rural migrant workers who want urban residency could first consider county-level or township-level cities because these cities were open to accept farmers as registered residents.

Big cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, which were already extremely crowded, could only offer limited opportunities in a gradual manner to rural people who had been working there long-term with stable jobs, accommodation and incomes, he said.

China has 240 million rural people working in cities, and migrant workers account for a significant proportion of the country's industrial labor force and urban construction workers.