An inevitable problem
Despite the grim reality, aid programs and philanthropic groups – including the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation – have not put efforts into helping low-income urban residents.
Only a few organizations in China pay close attention to impoverished urban families, while rural areas are still the major focus of our work, a staff member of an aid group told Oriental Outlook Weekly.
Aid programs conducted in rural areas yield results more readily, because the target population is more specific, said Guan Xinping, director of the Department of Social Work and Social Policy at Nankai University.
In addition, because migrant worker have become the underdogs of society, urban unemployed workers are no longer the focus that they were in the 1990s, Guan added.
Unequal education, healthcare and employment opportunities have exacerbated the unfavorable position of some low-income groups, leading to disturbing signs.
According to the report by Oriental Outlook, low-income urban dwellers have participated in many mass disturbances in recent years, even when the causes were not relevant to them. Nevertheless, the events provided an outlet to express their discontent over loopholes in a system which does not benefit them.
Han Keqing, associate professor at the Social Security Research Center of China under Renmin University, has composed an evaluation report for the Ministry of Civil Affairs on the country's social security system.
Han praised the system as a "comparatively effective safety net for low-income groups," but admitted that it is far from perfect.
Han's line was echoed by Guan, who called for the government to extend its minimum living standard assistance (dibao) program to urban and rural areas, covering 5-10 percent of the total population.
