context: While the centre repeatedly reminds localities of 2020 target for one million rural migrants acquiring urban hukou, second- and third-tier cities are devoting themselves to the 'talent war'. The inconsistency reveals disconnect between Beijing and localities on calculating the costs and benefits of urbanisation. Cities prefer the rich and educated, while Beijing seeks to stitch a polarised country together. Beijing needs to make real promises of support to persuade localities to implement its plan.
At a National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) press conference discussing 'Opinions on urban–rural integrated development', Chen Yajun 陈亚军 NDRC Department of Planning director spoke out against the policy of 'conditional hukou access' adopted by a number of regional capitals.
Chen said free flow of labour is the top priority for urban-rural integration, without which other factors of production (land, capital and information) can't circulate well. As of end 2018, there were 226 million migrants who had permanently relocated to cities but not received urban hukou, of which 65 percent lived in cities above the prefecture level. Large cities rather than small towns should take the lead in absorbing migrants, says Chen.
There are two ways to accommodate migrants
- granting them hukou to enable access to urban public welfare
- allowing migrants to receiving urban public welfare with residence permits
Chen reiterated
- cities need people from different backgrounds. Selective hukou assignment based on educational attainment or property ownership perpetuates social segregation of migrant workers and associated problems
- prime concern should be for those who already live and work in a given city (i.e., second-generation migrants born in cities, rural-origin university graduates and veterans), instead of people relocating from other cities.
- relaxing hukou doesn't mean relaxing real estate control. Low-income migrant workers rely on affordable housing in order to not slide back into poverty after settling in cities
- local variations are acceptable. Super- and mega-cities can still maintain a high threshold to prevent over-expansion and select hukou recipients with a point-based system