Only a quarter of migrant workers in the cities were covered by pensions in 2010, compared with four-fifths of locals, according to Albert Park oftheHongKongUniversityofScienceandTechnology.
Migrants without an urban hukou spend 30% less than otherwise similar urban residents, according to research by Binkai Chen ofthe Central Universityof Finance and Economics, Ming Lu of Fudan Universityand Ninghua Zhong ofHongKongUniversityofScienceandTechnology.