In 2023 there were approximately 297.5 million migrant workers in China. Nearly 121 million of them were local migrant workers, working in the vicinity of their place of home, while 176.6 million worked at more distant places in their home province or in regions far away. The number of migrant workers increased slightly by around 1.9 million people in 2023.
Migrant workers in China
The total number of migrant workers in China has increased steadily, except for 2020. In 2022, migrant workers in China accounted for more than 20 percent of the total population and roughly 38 percent of the Chinese labor force. It is worth noting that nearly half of migrant workers left their hometowns without their families. In terms of education, the majority of migrant workers in China are moderately educated, i.e. less than 15 percent of them did not get to finish middle school. Migrant workers contribute significantly to China’s urbanization and modernization. Roughly 27 percent of them were employed in the manufacturing industry in 2022, and around 18 percent in the construction sector.
Wages and employment
There has been a considerable rise in the average monthly income of migrant workers in recent years, which reached 4,780 yuan in 2023 – more than two times as much as in 2013. However, migrant workers are still not being treated equally. At least the share of migrant workers who did not receive their wages on time has decreased significantly from 4.1 percent in 2008 to less than 1 percent in recent years. This is only a small improvement, though, since unemployment is quite high among migrant workers: In 2012, some 7.7 percent of migrant workers were registered as unemployed in western China, a percentage much higher than the national unemployment rate of approximately 4 percent.
Number of migrant workers in China from 2013 to 2023
(in millions)
Characteristic
Local migrant workers
Intra-provincial migrant workers
Inter-provincial migrant workers
Migrant workers who took their families with them (leaving their home town)
Migrant workers who left their home town alone
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The data have been collected through a survey which covered rural workers from 31 provinces, 1,730 districts and 8,613 villages. Migrant laborers are defined as workers that are still registered as rural permanent residents, but have left their place of origin for more than six months in order to find work in another place. They either stay in the same province or move to another province in search of work.
Figures for earlier years have been taken from previous publications.
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National Bureau of Statistics of China. (April 30, 2024). Number of migrant workers in China from 2013 to 2023 (in millions) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved September 01, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/234578/share-of-migrant-workers-in-china-by-age/
National Bureau of Statistics of China. "Number of migrant workers in China from 2013 to 2023 (in millions)." Chart. April 30, 2024. Statista. Accessed September 01, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/234578/share-of-migrant-workers-in-china-by-age/
National Bureau of Statistics of China. (2024). Number of migrant workers in China from 2013 to 2023 (in millions). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: September 01, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/234578/share-of-migrant-workers-in-china-by-age/
National Bureau of Statistics of China. "Number of Migrant Workers in China from 2013 to 2023 (in Millions)." Statista, Statista Inc., 30 Apr 2024, https://www.statista.com/statistics/234578/share-of-migrant-workers-in-china-by-age/
National Bureau of Statistics of China, Number of migrant workers in China from 2013 to 2023 (in millions) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/234578/share-of-migrant-workers-in-china-by-age/ (last visited September 01, 2024)
Number of migrant workers in China from 2013 to 2023 (in millions) [Graph], National Bureau of Statistics of China, April 30, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/234578/share-of-migrant-workers-in-china-by-age/