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In the 1980s and early 1990s, the inflow of rural migrants into urban areaswas largely a supplement to the urban labor force. The fast-growing urbaneconomy had generated a massive demand for laborers, resulting in structuralshortages of urban workers. This was especially true in sectors such asconstruction and sanitary services, which have poor working conditionsand a high demand for manual labor. In the meantime, the expansion ofthe tertiary and private sectors also created more opportunities for ruralmigrants to be employed in the trade and service sectors that support theeveryday life of urban residents.Since the mid-1990s, a large number of workers in state-owned enterpriseshave been laid off and these unemployed urban workers now compete withmigrants in the same labor market. From this perspective, rural migrantshave shifted from serving as a supplemental labor force to being competitorswith urban workers. This is partly because the wages of rural migrants aredetermined by the labor market and are therefore very competitive. It isalso because the non-state-owned sectors, which were once “supplemental”and relatively small, are now an “important” component of the nationaleconomy. Although competition between laid-off SOE workers and migrantsis limited to positions that have a relatively low threshold for the entry andemploy primarily low-skilled workers, it has posed a threat to those with avested interest in urban employment protection policies and has generatedopposition to hukou reform from urban workers.4.1 Barriers to Entering IndustryWhile reform has created opportunities for rural migrants to move fromtheir home villages and find work in the growing new sectors of theurban economy, the more traditional sectors responsible for creating laborsegregation continue to maintain it, and have imposed barriers for migrantswanting to access a variety of jobs and public services. As a result, migrantworkers can only take up employment characterized by poor workingconditions, low pay, and little job security. Because of the incompletenessof the urban social service system reform, outside workers are excludedfrom receiving necessary housing, medical care, and children’s educationalbenefits at reasonable prices. Furthermore, migrants without a local hukouare often deported by urban authorities simply because they are outsidersand therefore seen as potential causes of instability and crime. All thesefactors prevent migration in China today from being complete andpermanent and they result in rural–urban migration having some uniquefeatures: migrants have a relatively low standard of living compared totheir real incomes, they remain economically and culturally separated fromurban society, and migration continues to be an individual rather than afamily phenomenon.261