Behind the structural change of Peasant Workers: the New Economic Bureau of Guangdong

The rapid rise of migrant workers in the province, the slow decline of migrant workers in other provinces, and the accelerated growth of resident population-behind the new changes in Guangdong's demographic structure, Guangdong's economy is undergoing significant changes in the process of long-term evolution.

Between 2009 and 2013, the number of migrant workers in Guangdong rose from 7.9 million to 10.48 million, with an average annual increase of more than 640000, according to the Guangdong Provincial people's and Social Affairs Department. At the same time, the number of migrant workers in other provinces dropped from 17.77 million to 16.54 million, with an average annual decrease of more than 300000.

"the acceleration of urbanization in Guangdong has led to the rapid growth of the number of migrant workers in the province; the transformation and upgrading of the Pearl River Delta has brought about an improvement in the quality of the population, and the accelerated economic development in the central and western regions has led to a reduction in the number of migrant workers outside the province." Chen Hongyu, an expert on regional economic studies at the Party School of the Guangdong Provincial CPC Committee, said.

Driven by the strategy of "double transfer of industry and labor force" and "revitalization of eastern and northwest Guangdong", the urbanization of relatively underdeveloped areas in Guangdong shows an obvious accelerating trend. From 2008 to 2013, the average annual growth of eastern and northwest Guangdong reached 19.7%, 13.1% and 18% respectively, 8.4%, 1.8% and 6.7% higher than that of the Pearl River Delta region.

Wang Wensen, director of the comprehensive office of the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Statistics, told reporters that from 2010 to 2013, the urbanization rate in eastern and northern Guangdong increased at an annual rate of 0.56%, and that in western Guangdong reached 0.93%.

"the rapid growth in eastern and northwest Guangdong has laid the foundation for local urbanization, and the growth rate of resident population in these areas is higher than that of the whole province. It can be said that at present, Guangdong has appeared the situation of eastern and northwest Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta advancing hand in hand, and the "double engine" pattern has been basically established. " Chen Hongyu said.

At the same time, Guangdong, especially the Pearl River Delta, is accelerating the pace of transformation and upgrading. At present, in workshops around the Pearl River Delta, the area of loading and unloading, handling, feeding, welding, spraying and other types of work such as "robot" is rapidly expanding. In the injection molding factory of Gree Electric Appliances in Zhuhai, Guangdong, the finished products are put on the conveyor belt and sent to the packing area one by one, and the handling robot shuttles around the factory to transport all kinds of goods. Cheng Hailiang, director of the injection molding factory, said that through the use of robots and the transformation of automation, the number of personnel has been reduced from more than 300 to more than 100, while production efficiency has increased by 20%.

There are more and more such enterprises in the Pearl River Delta. Since the beginning of this year, the governments of Guangzhou, Dongguan, Foshan and Zhongshan have also introduced policies to promote "robots for workers".

"under such a situation, Guangdong's demand for population structure has increased significantly. Coupled with the rise of the central and western regions, the number of migrant workers outside the province is bound to shrink. " Said Cai he, dean of the School of Sociology and Anthropology at Sun Yat-sen University.

But the decline in the number of migrant workers in other provinces does not mean that Guangdong has become less attractive as a major manufacturing city in China. According to the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Statistics, the resident population of Guangdong rose from 91.94 million at the end of 2005 to 96.38 million at the end of 2009 to 106.44 million at the end of 2013.

"from an increase of more than 4 million to an increase of more than 10 million, the acceleration is obvious. The Pearl River Delta has not faded. " Zheng Zizhen, director of the Guangdong Institute of population and Sociology of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, said that while "machine replacement" got rid of the development model of relying on cheap labor, some governments and enterprises in the Pearl River Delta have also promoted "human promotion" and "human equalization" at the same time.

In 1995, 19-year-old Geng Fawang graduated from a vocational high school in his hometown, Yanling County, Henan Province, and became a screening factory inspector under Gree Electric Appliance. Geng Fawang's life has risen along two tracks: one is the level of knowledge, from vocational high school to junior college to undergraduate, and then to master's degree; the other is the position, from inspector to mechanic to mechanic supervisor and then to technical lecturer.

In the process, Geng Fawang received subsidies for education expenses from the company and the government. Guangdong is providing more and more training subsidies for migrant workers. In 2009, it was the first to launch a universal training program for migrant workers nationwide; from May 2014, it began to implement an equal labor skills training system regardless of household registration and lifetime subsidies to help migrant workers accelerate their transformation into modern industrial workers. These measures have played a positive role in strengthening the attractiveness of the Pearl River Delta. " Zheng Zizhen said.

"in recent years, Guangdong has vigorously promoted the equalization of basic public services, making this manufacturing town more attractive not only to the economy, but also to the humanities." Cai he said.