A total of 26.8 million migrant workers had work injury
insurance in China by the end of March, 1.43 million more than at
the end of last year, said a spokesman with the Ministry of Labor
and Social Security on Thursday.
But the figure still only accounts for 13.4 percent of the
country's total migrant worker population, which stands at 200
million, with 120 million in cities and the rest in towns.
The number of migrant workers with medical insurance reached
24.1 million, said the ministry spokesman Yin Chengji.
This year China will continue pushing for wider insurance
coverage for its migrant workers, Yin said.
In May 2006, the Chinese government launched a nationwide,
three-year program to bring all migrant workers in high risk
sectors like coal mining and construction under the work injury
insurance system.
However, no specific figures have been released to indicate how
many migrant workers in these sectors are covered.
Yin also said the ministry helped 1.5 million migrant workers in
27 provinces recover a total of 1.74 billion yuan (US$223 million)
of unpaid wages in the first quarter of this year.
The Chinese government plans to have 36 million migrant workers
covered by the work injury insurance by the end of 2007, according
to earlier reports.
(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2007)