However, the quantity of skilled migrant workers is quite small. Figures from a migrant labor market in Hangzhou showed that 30 to 40 percent of the jobs posted required skills, but 80 percent of those applying had no skills at all.

New-generation migrant workers are eager to change their destiny through education. Zhang Yungang, a migrant worker in Shandong, is preparing for the college entrance exam.

    A survey in Suzhou also backed up these figures. The number of migrant workers in the city has reached 5 million, representing more than two-thirds of the entire labor market. Eighty percent of them are of the younger generation. According to a survey of 500 migrant workers under the age of 25 working in the electronic, electromechanical, textile and garment industries, educational levels are generally low, and nearly 80 percent of them had only taken compulsory school education: 29.7 percent graduated from primary school, 48.4 percent from junior high school, and only 21.9 percent from senior high school. Very few of the interviewees had any technical training, and none had done the vocational training offered by their enterprises. Consequently, they are only suitable for jobs requiring very low technical skills and offering low salaries.

    The survey also shows that new-generation migrant workers are eager to enhance their skills through education and professional training, and thus change their destiny. Among them, 48.4 percent are willing to participate in "learning and training," 31.4 percent "want to learn but don't know what to learn," and only 20.2 percent "don't want to learn or take training." In other words, 79.8 percent of the interviewees realize the importance of follow-up learning, and 93.5 percent would choose classroom training related to their jobs. The ranking of "interest in occupations" was: computer services 78 percent, electrical equipment maintenance 56.6 percent, driving 50.3 percent, automobile repairs 36.8 percent, and hairdressing and massage 28.4 percent.

    Their "understanding of spare time" was unexpectedly rational. Sixty-seven percent believed that "spare time should be for learning and not just leisure," while 81.5 percent were aware that "the efficiency with which one uses spare time determines one's future."

    According to professor Gao Zhong from the Sociology Department of Suzhou University of Science and Technology, who administered the poll, the younger generation of migrant workers have more motivation when it comes to follow-up learning, stemming from their pursuit of urban lifestyles and their desire to integrate into the cities.

    They also have higher demands and expectations than previous generations in terms of salary, social security, labor conditions, the realization of individual value, and future development. Experts point out that they are high in vocational expectations, material and spiritual comforts, but low in labor tolerance. "New-generation migrant workers not only ask for more in wages, but also better working conditions and accommodation," said Zhang Yisheng, who is in the clothing industry in Kaiping, Guangdong Province. Under pressure from the workers and international clients, his factory introduced SA8000 international labor standards last year, pushing up costs by 30 percent. In his opinion, the strengthening of workers' consciousness regarding their rights has accelerated the readjustment of industrial structures in China.

    A survey in Guangzhou shows that nearly 70 percent of townspeople agree that migrant workers should be allowed to "settle," but they are unwilling to become related to them by marriage. "Migrants encounter prejudice and exclusion in the city which is hard to change. Their jobs are low-paid and unstable, and their rights and interests are often severely violated," said professor Wu Luping from the China Youth University for Political Sciences.