China has 280 million migrant workers: report

As the first expansion after 2011, China’s migrant worker population reached 281 million by the end of 2016, up 1.5 percent compared with last year.

A migrant worker in China earned an average monthly income of 3,275 RMB ($475) in 2016, a 6.6 percent increase from 2015, according to a newly released report by the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

Migrant workers securing employment where they are registered as residents is a major reason for the population growth.

The country’s western regions have demonstrated an increasingly strong capability to absorb workers compared with other areas of the country, the report said.

Less fluidity has been reported as workers seeking jobs outside of their home provinces slipped to 0.3 percent in 2016 from 3.04 percent in 2011.

In 2016, about 52.9 percent of workers were employed in the manufacturing industry, down 2.2 percent from 2015, while 46.7 percent were employed in the tertiary industry, up 2.2 percent.