Mary Gallagher on China's Migrant Challenge

Mary Gallagher
Associate Professor
Political Science

Director, Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies

LRCCS Director Mary Gallagher's piece "The Future of Work: China's Own Migrant Challenge" was recently published by Pacific Standard.

“The biggest challenge for work in China will be ending the household registration system (hukou) that ties citizens to a particular place and to a designation as either an urban or rural citizen. For decades, China’s growth model has relied on low-cost, low-skilled, transitory labor from the countryside. Every year hundreds of millions of rural citizens leave their inland villages for cities and development zones across the country. When they do so, they are looking for work.”