Migrant Workers and Welfare Protection in China: A Case Study of Shanghai's Policies for Migrant Workers and Their Children
Abstract
Rural-to-urban migrant workers constitute a crucial component of China's urban development, yet their access to welfare protections remains limited. They provide labor for large-scale infrastructure projects and sustain the daily operation of urban services, highlighting their indispensable economic contributions. This study takes Shanghai as a case study to analyze welfare policies affecting migrant workers and their children across four domains: education, healthcare, housing, and social security. By drawing on government reports, census data, and scholarly research, the paper identifies persistent gaps between policy intentions and actual outcomes. Although initiatives such as wage guarantee funds, expanded social insurance coverage, and broader access to public schooling have been implemented, structural obstacles linked to the hukou system and fiscal constraints continue to hinder effectiveness. Migrant children experience significant educational disadvantages, while healthcare access is limited due to poor portability of insurance schemes. Public housing programs frequently exclude migrant families, and enforcement of social security provisions is uneven across districts. These issues are compounded by policy fragmentation, limited financial resources, and entrenched social biases. Suggested reforms include collaboration between the government and non-profit organisations to address the gap between policy and actual practice, revising school enrolment policies to improve equality in education, strengthening cross-regional commonality in health insurance, expanding affordable rental housing, and improving pension entitlements for the mobile population.
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