Over 60 years since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese working class has been growing steadily and become a unified whole of mental and physical workers inclusive of peasant-workers. At the end of 1949, there were only over 8 million workers throughout the country, making up 1.49% of the country’s total population. Up to 2008, there had been 287 million workers nationwide, up by more than 35 times, accounting for 21.6% of the country’s total population. Before the reform and opening up started in 1978, the overwhelming majority of Chinese workers were employed in enterprises of public ownership. Now over 70% of workers work in non-public enterprises. The number of peasant-workers in urban areas has reached 140 million or so, most of whom have become new members of the working class.

        Qualities of the ranks of workers have been constantly improved. In the early days since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, 80% of workers throughout the country were illiterates and the number of scientific and technical personnel was less than 50,000. At present, the average period of education received by workers throughout the country has lasted 11.48 years, of which 10.43 years are the average period of education received by peasant-workers. Among workers, the number of technical workers makes up 29.1%, with 11.32 million people having obtained professional qualification certificates at various levels. Innovation experts and hi-tech talents have emerged among vast numbers of workers, some of whom have won top prizes for scientific and technological progress at the national level and won invention prizes at the world level.

        The interests of the working class have been further realized. In the early days since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the number of urban unemployed population in China reached 4.74 million, with the unemployment rate being as high as 23.6%; the annual average wages of workers only came to 400 yuan or so and the urban per-capita floorage only arrived at 4.5 square meters. By 2008, the number of nationwide urban employed personnel had reached 302.1 million, with the registered unemployment rate being 4.2%; the annual average wages of workers in urban and township units had come to almost 30,000 yuan and the urban per-capita floorage had reached 28 square meters or so.