BEIJING, May 12 -- China's young migrant workers are better educated and more willing to spend than their parents' generation, a report from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.

A third of young migrant workers, who were born after 1980, hold a senior high school diploma or higher, 19.2 percentage points more than the older generation.

They spent an average of 939 yuan (150 U.S. dollars) per month last year, 19.3 percent higher than the older generation.

As they spend more, they send less money back home. Young migrant workers sent an average of 12,802 yuan to their families in the countryside last year, 29.6 percent less compared to the older generation.

The number of young migrant workers totaled 125.28 million last year, accounting for 65.5 percent of the rural work force born after 1980.

They prefer to work in bigger cities, with 54.9 percent seeking jobs in big and medium-sized cities, compared with 26 percent for the older generation.