Wage arrears for rural migrant workers on all kinds of projects, especially projects for governments and State-owned enterprises, should be cleared before Spring Festival, Premier Li Keqiang urged at the State Council executive meeting on Dec 30.

The meeting heard a report on ensuring wage payments to rural migrant workers.

Premier Li said that this year has seen progress in dealing with wage defaults with the adoption of regulations on ensuring wage payments for rural migrant workers.

And persistent efforts should be made to advance the special campaign of preventing wage defaults as well as form a long-term mechanism to ensure that migrant workers get paid in full and on time.

Local governments should keep channels open for reports and complaints, and make greater efforts to investigate disputes arising from wage defaults and prevent potential risks, the Premier urged.

Wage deposits and funds raised through other channels should be used to ensure payment in some special cases.

The expansion of unemployment insurance coverage this year has effectively helped migrant workers without jobs and in difficulty, he said, adding that related departments should continue to make good use of this policy.

And the meeting decided to strengthen the wage payment guarantee system and crack down on serious wage defaults, including releasing them to the public, supervising rectification, and blacklisting enterprises and people involved for joint punishment.