The government of Jinan, capital of east China's Shangdong Province, began setting up a personal database for the city's migrant construction workers at the beginning of this year to protect their interests.
According to the new regulations made by the local construction administration bureau, all migrant construction workers in the city should register their personal information with their unit before they begin work.
The information will then be put into computer and updated as the bureau traces and supervises the workers' construction projects through the Internet.
According to the bureau, at present nearly 250,000 construction laborers work in Jinan and most of them are from other provinces and regions of China, accounting for half of the migrant population of the city.
However, the living and working conditions of some workers can not be well guaranteed due to the lack of a sound employment security system in the construction industry. Some workers have even been waiting a long time for their wages.
(People's Daily February 12, 2003)
