1. Background and main content of policy The year of 2015 was the final year of the 12th Five Year Plan, was crucial in the country's comprehensive deepened reform, the national economic development maintained medium-high growth rate, the country's employment situation was overall stable, newly added urban and rural employment in the year was 13.12 million, and employment situation was better than expected. Total employment of rural migrant workers continued to grow, there was a good momentum of migrant workers returning home to start up businesses, and the number reached 2.4 million in the year. During the year, each department at each level carefully implemented State Council's Opinion on Further Doing Good Job of Providing Service for Rural Migrant Workers (state issued 2014 No. 40)，focused on employment and business starting of rural migrant workers, constantly intensified work efforts, and solidly promoted such work with multiple simultaneous measures.
1) Continued to provide good employment service. In 2015，the MoA continued to carry out the Spring Breeze Action, themed with setting up supply-demand platform and promoting transfer employment, which was aimed at implementing targeted public employment service, widely collecting workers' job demand and companies' labor demand after holidays, and striving to promote effective connection between workers and employers. Further improved transfer employment environment for rural workers, and created good social atmosphere of caring migrant workers. Continued to launch special project of implementing small company labor contract system and Spring Warm Action, signing of labor contract for migrant workers, and increased the labor-contract signing rate of small companies and rural migrant workers.
2) Reinforced production safety and occupational health protection of rural migrant workers. In 2015, in order to implement State Council's Opinion on Further Doing Good Job in Providing Service for Rural Migrant Workers, the State Administration of Work Safety issued specialized implementation opinion, put forward to adopt powerful measures, and guaranteed production safety and occupational health rights and interests of rural migrant workers. Implemented in-depth Production Safety Law and Prevention and Treatment Law of Occupational Disease, and improved laws and regulations system. Strengthened companies' entity responsibility of production safety and government departments^ supervision and management responsibility, and improved responsibility system of production safety and occupational disease harm prevention and treatment for rural migrant workers. Intensified training and evaluation work for production safety and occupational health for rural migrant workers, and vigorously promoted the construction of safety training responsibility system, teaching system, testing system, law enforcement system and information management system. Deepened the publicity and education work of production safety and occupational health for rural migrant workers, and let them fully understand the rights and obligations on production safety and occupational health, safety risk of companies and harm of occupational disease. Deeply launched major inspections on production safety, special projects of cracking down on illegal actions and governing violations, and secret investigation activities, and enhanced law enforcement inspections of production safety and occupational health for rural migrant workers.
3) Practically safeguarded labor remuneration rights and interests of rural migrant workers. In 2015, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security organized and launched concentrated special projects, strove to realize basic settlement of illegal cases of failing to pay rural migrant workers' wages prior to Spring Festival, and labor dispute cases involving unpaid wages for rural migrant workers were basically closed. Continued to carry out report, complaint, 24-hour on-duty system and the first asking responsibility system, and fully played the role of the mechanism of reporting and complaining at one point, and linked accepting at any place. Human resources and social security departments at each region should enhance joint punishment for illegal actions of failing to pay wages of rural migrant workers, reinforce communication and coordination with public security organs, inspection organs and judicial organs, set up complete, normalized system on information sharing, case situation report and case transfer, and harshly crack down on malicious criminal acts of failing to pay wages on time. Dispute cases involving failing to pay wages of rural migrant workers received priority acceptance, priority court opening, timely ruling and fast closure. Meanwhile, coordinated with judicial and union departments, among others, to implement legal aid system, and provided timely legal aid service for rural migrant workers in need.
4) Intensified support efforts for rural migrant workers to start up businesses. In 2015, General Office of State Council issued Opinion on Supporting Personnel including Rural Migrant Workers to Return Home and Start up Businesses (state issued 2015 No. 47), the opinion required lowering the threshold of business starting, for government-dominant rural public welfare projects with financial support, methods including service purchasing and cooperation between government and social capital could be adopted, and guided companies and social organizations established by personnel including rural migrant workers to take part in construction, management and operation. Implemented targeted tax cuts and universal fee reducing policies. For eligible rural migrant workers who returned home to start up businesses, they can enjoy reduction of corporate income tax, exemption of value added tax, reducing or exemption of business tax, additional education fee, additional fee of local education, water conservancy construction fund, cultural undertakings development fee, and employment security fund for the disabled, and reducing of unemployment insurance fee. Enhanced fiscal support efforts. For eligible new-type agricultural operation entities set up by personnel such as returned migrant workers, they can enjoy the same relevant policy support according to regulations. For companies founded by returned personnel such as migrant workers, if they hire people with difficulties finding jobs, or new graduates in the graduation year, they receive social insurance subsidy according to regulations. Enhanced financial service for returning home to start up businesses. Encouraged banking industry financial organizations to develop financial products and services in line with the characteristics of the needs of personnel returning home to start up businesses such as rural migrant workers, and intensified credit loan support and service efforts. For eligible personnel who returned home to start up businesses, they can be offered business loan guarantee according to regulations, and financial departments arrange fund needed for loan interest subsidy according to regulations. Improved supporting policies for returning-home innovation park. The construction fund of the innovation park for rural migrant workers who returned home to start up businesses was self-raised by the construction party; for those innovation parks constructed by way of land lease, fixed assets formed belong to construction party; enhanced financial support for infrastructure facility construction and industrial cluster development, among others, of innovation parks for rural migrant workers who returned home to start up businesses.
5) Vigorously improved public service for rural migrant workers. Fully implemented full-amount appropriation of educational fund based on the actual number of trailing children, and ensured trailing children to enjoy equal public educational resources. In megacities where there is shortage of bearing capacity of compulsory educational resources, the government further promoted governments with inflow students to purchase quota at private schools. Simplified attending procedures for trailing children, and normalized admission procedures. Allowed some megacities to arrange eligible trailing children in the compulsory education phase to enter schools. Gradually realized nearby admission with no examination and direct entering of higher grade schools. Enhanced student status management for trailing children. Further expanded the capacity of urban compulsory education, and comprehensively included trailing children in it.
2. Situation of policy implementation In 2015, the size of the nation's rural migrant workers continued to expand, as the total number nationwide reached 277.47 million, up by 1.3 percent from 2014. Among them, there were 168.84 million rural migrant workers, up by 0.4 percent, and there were 108.63 million local rural workers, up by 2.7 percent.
1) Security level of labor rights and interests constantly improved. In 2015, labor contract signing rate for rural migrant workers at large-scale companies nationwide reached more than 90 percent, and that of small and medium-sized enterprises reached 65 percent. Each region also actively promoted filing system construction of labor employment of rural migrant workers, and a total of 216 cities and regions nationwide launched labor employment filing work, and the number of people filed information including rural migrant workers reached 51.23 million.
2) Issue of wage arrear was eased. In the first three quarters of 2015, the country saw a total of 11,007 emergency incidents involving failing to pay the wages of rural migrant workers in time, up by 34 percent than the same period of 2014. Emergencies caused by wage arrear issue obviously increased. Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security joint with Ministry of Public Security, and other 8 departments, and formed 5 joint inspection teams, each team was led by ministry leaders or heads of relevant bureaus and departments, and they respectively went to 6 provinces and cities including Fujian to launch joint inspection late January and early February. Each region made great efforts to solve the issue of wage arrear for rural migrant workers. For example, labor inspection agency in Yinchuan city of Ningxia inspected a total of 1,880 employers in 2015, involving 124 000 workers; it initiated investigations for 1,002 employers and made settlement for 920, and the rate of claim settlement within legal limits of time reached more than 98 percent, and took back 202 million yuan of wages for 10 500 rural migrant workers. From March to September in 2015, Shanxi Province launched special project regulation, labor security supervision organizations of each level in the province accumulatively investigated and settled 4 936 salary cases, which involved 136,000 workers, and took back and issued 1.534 billion yuan salaries and beyond for workers.
3) Training of rural migrant workers reinforced. Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security regarded job skill improving of rural migrant workers as the key point of training work, and largely increased the number of trainings on job skill improvement. The whole year saw the completion of training task for roughly accumulated 9 million rural migrant workers. Among them, 4 million received job skill training, 4.3 million received job skill improvement training, and 700,000 received training for starting up businesses. Each region implemented in-depth professional skill improvement plan for rural migrant workers. For example, Xining City of Qinghai Province improved subsidy method for training fund, implemented the method of direct subsidy to individuals for professional skill and professional skill identification fee, and rural migrant workers can choose training organizations and courses based on personal needs, and enjoy corresponding subsidies according to regulations.
