Rural migrant workers' average monthly wage at 1,417 yuan

The average monthly wage for China's rural migrant workers who work outside their hometowns rose 5.7 percent in 2009, amounting to 1,417 yuan, according to a monitoring survey report by the Department of Rural & Social Economic Survey under the NBS on March 23. Of those, 31.5 percent earned 800 to 1,200 yuan per month and around 34 percent earned 1,200 to 1,600 yuan per month.

The report also said that at the end of 2009, China had a total of nearly 230 million rural migrant workers, up nearly 2 percent from the previous year.

In 2009, over 145 million rural migrant workers worked outside their hometowns for a period over six months and 84.5 million worked within their hometowns for a period over six months, according to a monitoring survey report by the Department of Rural & Social Economic Survey under the NBS.

The monitoring shows that eastern China is still the primary destination for rural migrant workers, however, central and western China have narrowed the gap. 90.76 million rural migrant workers worked in eastern regions in 2009, down 8.9 percent from the previous year; almost 25 million rural migrant workers worked in central China, up 33.2 percent from the previous year; and 29.4 million worked in western China, up 35.8 percent from the previous year.

The monitoring also shows that in 2009, there were 28 million rural migrant workers in the Yangtze River Delta and almost 33 million in the Pearl River Delta, down 7.8 percent and 22.5 percent respectively from the previous year.

By People's Daily Online