It's good to see more and more rural workers shifting from back-breaking work, which marked the struggle of their elders, to less strenuous jobs, says an article in Changjiang Daily. Excerpts:

Compared with the older generation, many rural workers today are not only able to buy products in cities that earn them respect and honor back home, but also have developed a spiritual sense of belonging to their urban environs.

On the surface, it would seem inappropriate that many rural workers are not keeping up the tradition of their predecessors because the hard work of the latter contributed immensely to China's economic development since the reform and opening up.

But this is a wrong viewpoint. Take the example of Huang Yirong, who switched her job from a toy factory to a delicatessen. Now she earns $264 a month by working 8 hours a day. To get the same amount she would have had to work three more hours a day under much tougher working conditions of her former factory. Huang's case highlights the waning attraction of jobs that demand hard labor.

What's more, China's industrial development has helped the growth of the service sector, which offers better and less physically intensive jobs.

The growing freedom workers enjoy in choosing their jobs will only prove the success of our industrial transformation. Plus, it will pay off the debt society owes to the older generation of rural workers, who still haven't been integrated into the urban milieu and got all their rights.

If we want to prosper further we have to ensure that workers become more aware of their rights and society is more open and tolerant.