Discrimination In Employment Of Migrant Workers

With the depth of reform and open policy, and the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization in China, a large number of surplus labors in rural area have walked into cities to work since the eighties of last century. Although they are registered peasants, they have done non-farm work in cities, which has become their major source of income. As a result, a special group has taken shape in our society, i.e. civilian agricultural labors. The agricultural-labors, who provide cheap service for the city's building and the citizen's life, have become an indispensable part of urban social structure. Their mobility and hard work play an important role in economics and society, namely, narrowing the gap between city and the country, increasing the farmers' income, speeding up China's urbanization and building an affluent society in an all -round way, etc. However, although they've made a great contribution to urban development, they have not got a legal status accordingly nor fair treatment, they suffer lots of discrimination in the urban labor market. Comparing with the city workers, many chances of work do not open to the agricultural labors, they have to enter into industries with bad working circumstances and hardly have any safety protection. In the production of labor, they also suffer lots of discrimination such as obviously the same work with different labor time, payment and rights. Discrimination damaged people's equal treatment and equal opportunities and as a result, it will inevitably affect social justice stability and social economic development. Thus, the questions of how to protect these labor's rights and interests, realize social equality and construct a harmonious society has become a topic of concern to the Chinese community generally. So, it has impotent to research the problem of employment discrimination.This paper uses the combination of theory and practice, empirical study and standardizing study to analyze the concept of agricultural labors employment discrimination. First, the paper expounds the concept of agricultural labors and the objective necessity of their emergency. Secondly, the author defines the agricultural labor employment discrimination with economic views and analyzes agricultural discrimination in employment opportunities, employment treatment and social security. On this basis, the author analyzes the root of this discrimination emphatically. There's not only system cause but also non-system cause to the discrimination, while the system is the main cause. Then the author analyzes the non-system cause in consciousness and enterprises behavior, analyzes cause in system separation of labor market, legal system, the distribution of education resources and so on. Next, the paper expounds the impact of discrimination against agricultural-labors to urban employment, urbanization, urban stability, social welfare, rural economic development and agricultural-labors themselves. All this proved that discrimination against agricultural-labors is not fair, as well as lack of efficiency. At last, the paper provided the policies and measures to resolve the problem of employment discrimination: gradually reform and abolish the restrictions on the employment of agricultural labors, reform unreasonable system, establish and improve the macro control system in the labor market; upgrade peasant's level of capital; establish and improve laws and regulations; build a mass organization to safeguard the rights and interests of agricultural-labors.