[photopress:chinese_peasants.jpeg,full,alignright]According to the China Youth and Children Research Center young migrant workers are keen to receive skills training so they can land better jobs than their parents. Born in the 1980s, the so-called ‘second-generation migrant workers’ come from the countryside but have little farming experience. They have better educational backgrounds than their parents. Above all, they are young and ambitious and they do not want to end up like the peasants in the picture, selling their produce from a road-side stall.
The China Youth and Children Research Center found that more than 97% of second-generation migrant workers said they hoped to continue learning. However, less than 80% said they had actually received training.
The center polled more than 4,600 migrant workers from across the country, all of whom were born in the 80s.
Another survey, carried out earlier this year by the Zhejiang Academy of Labor and Social Security, involved more than 2,000 migrant workers in their 20s from across the province. It also found that all of them wanted skills training.
Chen Shida, president of the academy, said: ‘Unlike their parents, these young people want to make a living with their brains rather than brawn. They adapt their behavior and way of thinking to the city and it is impossible for them to return to the country.’
Compared with most urban children, young migrants lack vocational skills and few of them get the chance to access higher education. Most start work after graduating from middle school at age of 18 or lower.
Some employers and labor and social security departments have realized that the lack of qualified workers is limiting the development of local industries. Which is why some local governments have set up vocational training schools for migrant workers.
According to the Ministry of Education, at the end of last year there were more than 151,000 training schools around the country, which provided training for more than 45 million people in 2006 alone.
Source: China Daily
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