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March 27, 2012

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Home » Metro » Education

Migrant women earn less, toil with lower skills, education

SHANGHAI'S expanding population of migrant women earn 40 percent less than local employees on average due to their low occupational skills and educational background, according to the Shanghai Women's Federation.

A report released by the federation yesterday said the average monthly income of migrant women in Shanghai was 2,334 yuan (US$370), compared with the city's overall average income of 3,896 yuan. The figure is 470 yuan less than the average wage for migrant men.

"The reason is that most migrant women took up low-skill or labor-intensive jobs with low occupational skill demand," according to the report

Shanghai is home to more than 8.9 million migrants, in which 3.04 million are women. About 80 percent of the non-local women came from rural areas, according to the latest national census.

The federation surveyed 1,000 employed migrant women aged between 20 and 39 about their jobs and living conditions in Shanghai. Most said they worked in manufacturing and low-end service jobs such as catering, cleaning and domestic help, or ayi. Over 60 percent said they had never received any occupational training.

"Jobs with low thresholds are the only accessible ones for elementary school graduate job seekers like me," said Zhu Yuejuan, a 33-year-old ayi from Anhui Province. "And I couldn't afford time and cost to attend those training courses."

Doing washing and cleaning jobs for 15 yuan per hour, Zhu earns about 2,500 yuan a month for her work at several households a day.

The survey showed that more than 80 percent of migrant women were unhappy with their lives, yet one-third of them said they want to settle down in Shanghai because the city has more job opportunities, better public security and educational resources, which should help their children.




 

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