Social Welfare in Urban areas: health, education and housing

James Carne and Harry Thorogood

Local Urban vs Rural Migrants

Local Urban workers are entitled to social security coverage such as pension, unemployment insurance, medical insurance and subsidised public housing.

Compare this to: 5% of migrant workers are covered by a pension scheme, less than 2% by unemployment insurance, 3% by medical insurance whilst less than 10% live in public housing.

Housing

Majority of rural workers live in dormitories provided by their employees, in factories or on construction sites.

These facilities are crowded, lack basic furniture, sanitation facilities, heating and air conditioning.

22% of migrants have a living area of less than 5 square meters. 55% less than 10 square meters.

45% of workers live in housing without a toilet

Education

Majority of rural migrant workers children are excluded from public schools by city governments.

7-8 million migrant- children living in cities.

67% of migrant children pay more than urban children.

More money from government funds are giving to urban schools than rural schools even though over 60% of population live in rural areas.

Health

30% of rural migrant workers had insurance coverage for occupational injuries and disease.

10% by medical insurance 15% by pension scheme 3.8% of GPD is spent on health

Chongqing

Nankai secondary school (the best school in Chongqing) is located in central Chongqing. As a result, it suffers from noise problems and have had incidences involving outsiders damaging facilities and endangering the students.

This could be due to jealousy of rural migrants or poorer urban children who are unable to enter the school

Chongqing continued

Also many problems seen within the public services:

Tap water is not drinkable Many restaurants are un-sanitised Health care does not meet the

standards of European health care Evidence suggests that hospitals

also lack certain provisions

….

In 1999 figures suggest 66% of urban residents owned their own homes, however there has been a noticeable decrease over the last 10 years.

This could be as a result of a lack of affordable housing due to commercial builders building too many luxurious houses; many of these remain unsold.