Political advisors yesterday called on the government to make greater efforts to raise migrant workers' salaries and ensure they have a better standard of living.

With more than 200 million such workers in cities across China, how to better protect their rights and interests has become a crucial issue, members of the country's top political advisory body said yesterday in Beijing at a meeting on achieving more balanced development between urban and rural areas.

They also called for substantial measures to be taken to provide these workers with insurance for workplace injuries, better educational opportunities for their children and more affordable housing.

Li Zhuobin, a member of the Standing Committee of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said migrant workers still face employment discrimination and poor access to public services.

Citing the construction industry as an example, he said migrant workers' salaries could be two-thirds or half that of their urban counterparts.

In other cases, employers refuse to hire workers without urban permanent residence permits.

"Many employers do not pay them on time," said Li.

"In sectors that hire a large number of migrant workers, such as construction, catering and entertainment, the government should be strict on implementing the salary deposit rule," he said.

The rule, introduced in May 2004 by the former Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, requires construction companies to deposit a certain amount of money in a labor department bank account. The money is used to pay migrant workers who fail to receive their due salaries.

In addition, the training of rural workers fails to fully meet employers' requirements and the public employment service's efforts to help migrant workers find jobs are inadequate, he added.

Li suggested that preferential policies to promote employment should cover both urban and rural residents.

(China Daily September 4, 2008)