The departure and retention of the first generation of migrant workers in the construction industry, migrant workers under the age threshold | School of Sociology, Central China Normal University | Construction industry
58 year old Xue made a tough decision last year, determined to work for his grandson for another ten years.
He is from Xuzhou, Jiangsu. He entered the "most fashionable" construction industry at the age of 21 and came to a first tier city last year. Excluding the more than ten years of transitioning midway, he has also spent more than 20 years on the construction site. In their 50s, they are the most common faces on construction sites today.
However, Lao Xue soon learned that the new regulations on construction sites no longer admit employees over 60 years old. Prohibiting men over 60 years old and women over 50 years old from entering construction sites to engage in construction work is a labor standard for "over age" migrant workers in the construction industry introduced in many places.
The dismissal order aims to solve the issue of employment safety, but the "old Xue" still have their own entanglements about whether to stay or not. It has been 40 years since the term "migrant workers" was first introduced in 1983. After China's first generation of migrant workers in the construction industry exceeded their age, what do they face and where should they go?
In February 2023, the No. 1 central document clearly pointed out that the employment rights and interests of over aged migrant workers should be well protected. Continuously optimizing employment standards, employment assistance, and social security in the construction industry is bound to become a long-term undertaking to address the aging population of construction workers.
Workers who want to stay
"The impact was significant," was the first reaction of Lao Xue and his colleagues upon learning of the dismissal order. "To be honest, more than 70% of people still want to continue working.".
Lao Xue's son and his family live in Xuzhou County. His son is responsible for the project, while his daughter-in-law does odd jobs and takes care of three children. My 12-year-old granddaughter is about to enter junior high school. My son sold his original house and changed to a school district house. After paying a down payment of 300000 yuan, he also bears a 20-year mortgage of 2600 yuan per month, which puts a lot of financial pressure. This is also the motivation for Lao Xue to continue working, and Lao Zhang, who is working at the same construction site, thinks the same way. He is over 60 years old this year, skilled in bricklaying, and currently working. In their view, most construction workers in their early 60s still have the ability to continue working and need this job, both to support themselves and to alleviate the burden on the next generation.
To earn money for themselves, for their families, and for the future of the next generation, similar voices also appeared in the review area of Tencent News's "Retirement Order": 80 million over age migrant workers, who have no work to fight, no land to rely on, and no return ", Tiktok @ Li Xiaomeng video review area, and related news reports.
From the 276 self statements of migrant workers sorted out, it can be found that for elderly migrant workers who want to stay, their own livelihood needs are their main consideration.
Behind the word "lack of money", the issue of social security cannot be ignored.
In fact, rural elderly care has always been an important issue of concern to the country, and the new rural social pension insurance that has been piloted since 2009 is a typical example. Rural residents who participate in insurance can choose to voluntarily choose to participate in insurance in 12 levels. They can receive insurance benefits under the age of 60 and have accumulated contributions for 15 years. If they have not paid for 15 years, they can also obtain a guaranteed pension security after making up for it.
In the past five years, the No. 1 central document of the Central Government has always emphasized improving, integrating and appropriately increasing the financial subsidies and individual payment standards of urban and rural endowment insurance, and reasonably guiding migrant workers with flexible employment to participate in basic medical insurance for employees and basic endowment insurance for urban employees according to regulations.
However, the reality is that a considerable number of migrant workers have not been insured. Speaking of this, Lao Chen, a construction worker from Jieyang, Guangdong, felt a bit helpless: "The income is not fixed, and he doesn't earn much. His family's expenses are also considerable, and if he can save a few hundred, he can save a few hundred. The current problems have not been solved, how can he consider it in the long run?"
Wang Ou, a lecturer at the School of Sociology at Central China Normal University and a interviewee, has been conducting research on migrant workers for a long time. He pointed out that cultural inertia is also an important factor hindering the older generation of migrant workers from paying social security.
The generation born in the 1950s and 1960s is accustomed to relying on themselves or their children for retirement rather than the national system, and is not familiar with the social insurance model. "In their main body of life, their relationship with the country is to pay money to the country, so they do not have a definite belief in 'how much the country can give me in the future', and would rather put the money in their own pockets or use it for their children and grandchildren," Wang Ou explained.
Some insured migrant workers, on the other hand, indicate that they do not actually receive much money and still need to rely on working outside to make a living or provide subsidies for their families. According to Wang Ou's observation, there is not much difference in the level of protection for over aged migrant workers in different regions, and the overall level of protection is relatively low. For example, in Jiangxi, it is about 100 yuan, and in Sichuan, Hunan and other places, it is not much higher.
In some provinces and cities, the government will purchase urban resident social security for farmers whose land has been expropriated as land loss subsidies. Regarding this, Wang Ou said, "Farmers who have lost their land are not a small number, but how many of them have received social security purchased by the government for them has not been studied yet. I estimate that this number will not be too large."
If "stay" only refers to staying in this city, the evacuation order may not become a roadblock for elderly migrant workers. But the demand of migrant workers in the construction industry is to stay on construction sites - in addition to familiarity and adaptation to the industry, relatively considerable income is also an important reason.
According to the "Monitoring and Investigation Report on Migrant Workers" released by the National Bureau of Statistics for ten consecutive years, the average monthly income of migrant workers in the construction industry has increased by 87% in the past decade, reaching 5358 yuan in 2022, ranking first in both amount and growth rate among various industries where migrant workers work.
In media reports and information circulating online, it is not a fantasy for migrant workers in the construction industry to earn a monthly salary of over ten thousand yuan. On June 3, 2022, the Workers Daily reported that an industry insider from a state-owned construction company in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, stated that bricklayers, carpenters, and steel reinforcement workers earn over 10000 yuan per month. Relatively high income has always attracted a large number of migrant workers to enter construction sites in the past.
But this is not the whole truth. Li Dajun, the head of the Beijing Human Culture Development Center, found that behind high income, the instability of high labor intensity and income is often overlooked or masked. The salaries of frontline workers in the construction industry are generally calculated on a daily basis, and due to differences in the length of construction periods and labor intensity, there is a significant difference in daily wages. If monthly wages are simply calculated based on a certain day's salary, it may not necessarily be in line with the actual situation.
At the same time, the increase in daily wages often corresponds to an increase in work intensity and risk factors, and most young people nowadays are also unwilling to enter the construction industry as a result. Lao Xue introduced that formwork workers and shell workers are "slightly younger", usually between 45 and 55 years old, while tile workers are almost all over 50 years old. 52 year old Chen said he is considered young on the construction site; Lao Zhang also jokingly said, "Young people don't do it, we work together in our hometown.".
Construction site safety, not just one cause and one effect
The situation where people in their 50s are all on the construction site has only emerged in recent years. After reviewing the age composition of construction industry practitioners in the past decade, it was found that the proportion of practitioners aged 50 and above has increased from 16.3% in 2013 to 29.3% in 2022, while the proportion of young people under 30 has decreased from 21.5% to 14.1%, indicating a clear trend of aging in the industry.
The dismissal order issued in this context is based on the consideration of work safety for elderly migrant workers. As age increases, the energy, physical strength, and reaction ability of workers will decrease, and construction sites are also a high-risk area for safety accidents among elderly migrant workers. Therefore, the importance of standardizing the management of the construction industry in reducing safety accidents and ensuring the safety of migrant workers is beyond doubt.
At the same time, Professor He Xuefeng, Dean of the School of Sociology at Wuhan University, pointed out in his article "Where Are the Roads for Overaged Migrant Workers?": "According to regulations, responsibility should be pursued in the event of a safety accident. Therefore, from the perspective of local government management, it is directly related to the interests of the local government to expel over aged migrant workers and reduce the incidence of casualties on construction sites."
Standardizing the age of employment is undoubtedly an important part of ensuring the safety of construction sites. To achieve the fundamental goal of ensuring safety, it is necessary to comprehensively trace the causes of safety accidents, take multiple measures, and work together to address them.
During his long-term observations at construction sites in Beijing, Shenzhen, Beihai, and other places, Wang Ou found that among the factors that affect the probability of work-related injuries, job types are particularly important, such as scaffolders and tower cranes, which are high-risk occupations that are prone to work-related injuries.
Lao Xue also stated that the skilled workers who dismantle tower cranes are the most likely to be injured. "Tower cranes are usually over forty meters high, and the coordination between high altitude and ground must be good. Once there is a command error and a serious fall occurs, the person will be gone." And "those who do this are all young people.".
According to a search on the Judgment Document Network using the keyword "construction industry work-related injuries", it was found that among the existing 45 incidents, high-altitude work injuries were the most common, followed by sliding, falling, and smashing injuries. It is worth noting that if the age of the injured in the case is further counted, it will be found that middle-aged workers aged 35-50 are the most injured.
In some regions, the correlation between age and the probability of work-related injuries may require specific analysis. According to research data from the Chengdu Lawyers Association in 2022, 25.9% of construction workers aged 50 and above suffered work-related injuries, which is lower than the proportion of workers aged 36 to 50 who suffered work-related injuries. In the seventh population census data of Chengdu in 2020, the proportion of construction industry practitioners aged 50 and above was 29.5%, higher than the 25.9% mentioned above.
"There are still many things that can be done to ensure the safety of construction workers," Wang Ou mentioned. "We need to reflect on the root cause of work-related injuries and truly regulate the construction operation itself."
During the field investigation at the construction site, Wang Ou often saw situations such as non-standard processes, disorderly stacking of materials, inadequate supervision, and severe fatigue work. However, a survey conducted by the Chengdu Lawyers Association in 2022 found that many companies still refuse to participate in work-related injury insurance due to poor performance, and relying solely on the handling department of work-related injury insurance is also difficult to implement the work of work-related injury insurance. When the safety net is not yet firmly woven afterwards, workers are almost exposed to the chaos and safety risks on the construction site.
Where is the road
"We can't go back to our hometown, and it's even more difficult for us. If we go back, we'll become the standard old man and old lady. No one wants you."
Standing in front of the threshold of 60 years old, where should they go?
There are many job opportunities in the city, and even if he is forced to leave the construction site two years later, Old Xue plans to stay and find a job in environmental sanitation or something like that. "Anyway, he can't be idle.". But he heard that many "over age" workers around him have left the city this year. A fellow villager from the same village lived in Shanghai for eight or nine years. He was 62 years old and his boss said he didn't want to continue working. However, he had no choice but to reluctantly return home; All the older workers who have stayed at the construction site before have returned home, those who can farm, those who can take care of their grandchildren, and those who have not stayed behind.
Some people also stayed behind. We found from 276 self reports that many of the over aged individuals who stayed on construction sites adopted various "strategies": dyeing their hair black, borrowing someone else's ID card, and infiltrating under the guidance of their colleagues... Of course, there are also some construction sites that have not yet strictly implemented regulations, "because it is really impossible to recruit people, young people do not do this job," said Lao Xue.
In April 2022, Zhang Huan, a lecturer at the School of Marxism at Central South University for Nationalities, and Xia Zhuzhi, a researcher at the China Rural Governance Research Center at Wuhan University, wrote an article stating: "From the perspective of serving the people, rather than a simple one size fits all approach, the government should shift its attention to work injury insurance, safety training, safety supervision, and wage arrears management, actively supporting and caring for these vulnerable groups of migrant workers in the market environment."
Yang Zhiming, President of the China Labor Association and former Deputy Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, once proposed in an interview with the Farmers Daily that the first step is to scientifically and accurately evaluate the labor ability of older migrant workers, and provide them with opportunities to transfer to auxiliary positions such as security and cleaning at the same construction site or to positions in other industries such as decoration and decoration that do not require high physical fitness; Secondly, age restrictions should be moderately relaxed, vocational skills training should be provided for job and career transfers, and employment channels for older migrant workers should be expanded.
On November 9, 2022, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and five other departments jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Further Supporting the Employment and Entrepreneurship of Migrant Workers" document, which proposed that "do a good job of providing employment support for older migrant workers... Do not use age as a reason for 'one size fits all' expulsion". The document also pointed out specific directions for promoting employment support, including providing employment positions and recruitment activities, strengthening safety management, and providing free public employment services for older migrant workers.
Subsequently, various provinces and cities have introduced policies to encourage the employment and entrepreneurship of migrant workers. After reviewing the relevant policy documents of 34 provincial-level administrative regions, we found that the responses from various regions mainly involve four policy directions: "building recruitment markets", "building integrated platforms", "employment ability training", and "providing public welfare positions". Taking Wendeng District, Weihai City, Shandong Province as an example, the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau regularly releases job demands of employers through brochures, official account, etc. After migrant workers apply for jobs register information on a special job registration applet, they can match jobs in the recruitment WeChat group or with the help of staff, and can also participate in recruitment activities such as night market recruitment to learn about the unit and apply for jobs on the spot.
There is a way back home, and there is also a door to the city. He Xuefeng proposed that the government should create more opportunities for migrant workers in cities, make cities more friendly to them, and allow migrant workers to judge whether to continue staying in the city based on their own conditions and resources.
In May 2023, Jiangsu fired its first shot at adjusting the upper limit of working age. On May 25th, the Department of Housing and Urban Rural Development of Jiangsu Province issued a notice on further piloting the application of the "Construction Safety Code" system for construction workers. Each person has one code, which dynamically distinguishes the three colors of "red", "yellow", and "green" to reflect the age, physical health status, safety behavior, safety training results, and other information of workers in real time. According to this new policy, "over age" construction workers still have the possibility of entering construction sites.
It is currently unknown whether this resurgence, four years after the wave of retirement of elderly migrant workers in the construction industry, marks a new direction.
Equally uncertain is the future of migrant workers standing before the age threshold of 60. Old Chen never thought about how long he would go: "Actually, he can't even plan because he doesn't have a fixed income. As long as there is work to do, what should be done still needs to be done."
Lao Xue still wants to work hard for another ten years. As for after the age of 60, we still need to find a way. "I can't say exactly what to do now, anyway, there must be a way to get to the front of the mountain by car."
This article is the work of the "Data Analysis and Information Visualization Course for Undergraduate Students in the School of Journalism at Fudan University", supervised by Zhou Baohua, Xu Di, and Cui Di.
Authors: Chen Sitian, Li Zhuohang, Wang Yue, Zhang Yanyin, Zhu Zhiyang
At the request of the interviewee, Lao Xue, Lao Zhang, and Lao Chen are all pseudonyms.
Reference materials:
[1] Li Dajun The Hardship Under "High Salaries" - A Survey of the Survival Status of Construction Workers [J]. Architecture, 2014:6-25
[2] He Xuefeng. Where is the Road for Overaged Migrant Workers? [J]. People's Forum, 2022, No.740:66-69
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https://szb.farmer.com.cn/2022/20221215/20221215_008/news-nmrb-12293-20221215-m-008-300.pdf
[4] Zhang Huan and Xia Zhuzhi: Eliminating "overage migrant workers" is a good intention to do bad things
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[5] Behind the "retirement order", 80 million over-age migrant workers cannot retire. The solution is Solution.
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[7] Implementation Opinions on Further Supporting Employment and Entrepreneurship of Migrant Workers by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and National Rural Revitalization Bureau
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[8] Notice on Further Improving the Pilot Application of the "Construction Safety Code" System for Construction Personnel
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http://jscin.jiangsu.gov.cn/art/2023/5/25/art_49384_10903427.html
Authors: Chen Sitian, Li Zhuohang, Wang Yue, Zhang Yanyin, Zhu Zhiyang
Guidance teachers: Zhou Baohua, Xu Di, Cui Di
Special Column for the Course of Data Analysis and Information Visualization at the School of Journalism, Fudan University