ZHENGZHOU, Aug. 19 -- As a migrant worker, Li Weichao spent much of his youthshifting from one temp job to another, living thousands of miles away from his family toperform backbreaking labor for minimal pay.
The hours were long, the travel was tiring and the pay, while better than some, was justenough to get by.
"I used to do manual work on construction sites, making around 300 (about 48 U.S.dollars) yuan a day. I was always worried about finding my next job," the 26-year-old fromHenan Province said.
But his recent graduation from vocational school looks to change that. Receiving technicaltraining as a chef, Li recently landed a stable job close to home working at a restaurant inZhengzhou, capital city of Henan Province. .
"Since attending vocational training school to receive training, I think the days of worryingabout my next job are over," he says.
As China loosens household registration restrictions to allow migrant workers to receiveequal urban welfare, many like Li now seek to settle down in cities.
The household registration system is tied to one's place of residence and was set up in 1958to control movement of rural population into cities. The system has prevented thecountry's 269 million migrant workers from receiving the same public benefits as citydwellers and is widely believed to hold back urbanization and domestic consumption.
With the restrictions changing as many as 100 million migrant workers are expected tobecome "real city dwellers" by 2020.
To ensure new residents can find stable jobs to afford city life, cities across the country arefocusing on furthering vocational training for migrant workers.
Li's home province of Henan, the country's most populated, has a work force of 49 millionpeople. In 2009, Henan launched a province-wide campaign to strengthen the workingskills of its residents by offering training programs.
By the end of 2013, the programs helped train a total of 17.8 million people.
Anhui Province, another region with a strong work force, also adopted training programs toimprove the skill set of its workers. In Anhui, these programs are currently offered not justby government, but schools, private institutions and businesses.
Luo Qunhu, a migrant worker from Anhui, doubled his income after receiving vocationaltraining. Previously earning about 2,000 yuan a month in a local factory, he was trained tobe a technician and his monthly salary rose to 4,000 yuan in the same factory.
Official statistics show that, since the new training programs, the average monthly incomeof Anhui's migrant workers increased to 2,909 yuan - 300 yuan higher than the nationalaverage.
However, one survey found that only about 30 percent of China's migrant workers haveundergone vocational training. A lack of technical skills are the main obstacle preventingthem from becoming urban and industrial workers, the survey found.
Zhang Junjie, a political advisor from Anhui, has been studying the vocational training ofmigrant workers for years. His research reveals that most vocational training schools onlyprovide old-fashioned courses such as computer, welding and hairdressing. Such coursesare out of touch with the diverse needs of China's changing job marketplace.
The new programs include training in such skills as auto repair, molding for themanufacturing industry and heavy construction vehicle operation.
Meanwhile, vocational training is all the more necessary for migrant workers wishing tosettle down in cities where job markets already face fierce competition.
According to a national plan on urbanization issued early this year, China will conductvocational training of 10 million migrant workers a year starting from 2014 to 2020 withthe goal of helping develop the nation acquire specific skills.
But Zhang says if the training is to be effective, it must be specific in its offerings, adaptingto China's new job market to offer training for skills that are in demand and will helpmigrant workers find employment quickly.
