Income of China's migrant workers continues to grow in 2025

BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- China's migrant workers saw rising incomes and enjoyed an improved quality of life over the past year, according to a survey released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.

In 2025, the total number of migrant workers in the country reached 301.15 million, up 1.42 million from the previous year, representing an increase of 0.5 percent, the survey showed.

The average monthly income of migrant workers rose to 5,075 yuan (about 739 U.S. dollars) in 2025, up 2.3 percent year on year. Those working outside their hometowns earned an average of 5,774 yuan per month, up 2.5 percent, while those working within their registered townships saw a wage growth of 2 percent, with average monthly earnings reaching 4,376 yuan.

The tertiary sector continued to dominate migrant worker employment in 2025, accounting for 54.7 percent of the workforce. Meanwhile, the share of workers in the secondary sector declined by 0.2 percentage points to 44.5 percent.

The quality of migrant workers also showed improvement. The average living space for migrant workers in urban areas increased to 24.9 square meters per person, up by 0.2 square meters from 2024.

Migrant workers refer to rural residents with agricultural household registration engaged in non-agricultural work locally or outside their hometowns for six months or longer annually.