BEIJING, May 22 (Reuters) — Chinese authorities announced new policy guidelines Friday designed to broaden access to essential public services for workers who lack official household registration in their employment cities, potentially helping millions of migrant laborers obtain urban services.
These policy shifts could strengthen social protections for families and may boost consumer spending in China’s export-dependent economy.
The new directives urge government departments and municipal officials to deliver public services such as schooling and essential healthcare based on where individuals actually live, rather than their official household registration status, which typically reflects their birthplace.
China’s household registration system, known locally as hukou, ties access to public services primarily to a person’s place of birth. Officials implemented this framework during the 1950s to control internal population movement, particularly migration from countryside to urban centers.
Workers with rural registration from their home regions frequently face barriers when trying to access public services in urban areas where they live and work. Officials have attempted to modify this system for over ten years.
POLICY CHANGES TARGET EDUCATION AND HOUSING ACCESS
“Providing basic public services by the place of residence, gradually eliminating the link between basic public services and household registration, and promoting equal access to basic public services … are conducive to meeting people’s growing needs for a better life,” China’s State Council stated in the guidelines.
The new directives encourage municipal governments to help more children of migrant families — those who relocate to cities with their parents — enroll in public schools and allow qualified students to take entrance examinations where they currently live.
Additional cities should broaden public housing rental programs to include families with steady jobs but lacking local registration, and workers should gain access to social insurance programs at their work locations, according to the guidelines.
The policy recommendations also suggest loosening registration requirements in areas including childcare, senior care and disability services, while encouraging provincial governments to increase financial support for regions experiencing population growth to fund public services.
