China's largest city Shanghai has launched a program to insure migrant workers against industrial injury and illness, state media reported yesterday.
The measure, which includes a pension scheme, seeks to help easily exploited rural workers who arrive in the city and take odd jobs that do not entitle them to benefits, Xinhua news agency said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
So far, 10,000 companies employing 400,000 people have registered, the agency said, although it was unclear if this meant the firms had bought insurance for their entire staff.
The number of rural dwellers in China seeking their fortunes as migrant workers in the big cities last year grew to more than 94 million, state media said last month.
China's migrant labor force has proved indispensable to bringing about the country's speedy economic growth.
Migrants are likely to take jobs in big cities disdained by local residents for being too dirty or dangerous, such as jobs on construction sites.
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