The population of China's rural migrant workers was 282 million by the end of 2016, an increase of 4.24 million compared to 2015 and accounted for approximately 20 percent of the total population, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) announced Tuesday. Qiu Xiaoping, vice-minister for MHRSS, stated during a meeting focusing on rural migrant workers that 2016 had seen new progress made to safeguard their labour rights and interests, Xinhua News Agency reported. 2016 also saw more rural migrant workers added into the urban social security system, part of a pledge made by the government to reform its residency permit system, known as hukou. Nearly 120,000 rural children were granted access to complete China's national college entrance exam in their parents' working locations in 2016, up 47 percent over 2015. Previously, many children were forced to complete their exams, known as gaokao, in their parents' former rural home, causing an enormous amount of disruption. Qiu stated that in 2017 the government would continue to focus on promoting equal rights for migrant workers and further expanding residency permits for urban areas.
Link : http://gbtimes.com/china/chinas-rural-migrant-workers-totals-282-million-2016