Resolving Urban-Rural Dual Structure is Crucial

Cai Fang, vice chairman of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, mentioned in his article on March 3 that our country was in the midst of resolving the dual structure in urban and rural economy, facing both urgency and opportunities; the development of agriculture, rural areas and rural people would contribute to China's economic growth by resolving the urban-rural dual structure.

The access to basic public services is not yet equal. To some extent, the inequality between urban and rural residents in access to basic public services is even greater than their income gap. For example, the urban-rural dual structure in terms of social security reveals a large gap between urban and rural residents. At the same time, incomplete urbanization also reduces social mobility. Informal jobs severely reduce social mobility and, in particular, opportunities for upward mobility. The mechanism that calcifies registered residence also reduces the proportion of farmers going out of counties/provinces or going into cities, and constantly results in social problems related to the left-behind elderly, spouses and children, among others.

He pointed out that the challenges of economic growth can be addressed by putting focus on the supply-side (labor supply) and demand-side (consumer spending) reform and eliminating the urban-rural dual structure.