Migrants who relocate to find better jobs in Beijing tend to stay longer and even resettle with their entire families, according to a survey conducted by the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

Of the 2,532 survey respondents, more than 90 percent have been living in the country's capital for more than six months, compared with the figure of 60 percent a decade ago.

And half of them have been living in Beijing for more than five years and 80 percent have undertaken only one job, according to the survey.

The survey shows that the "floating population" are not in fact floating frequently between cities as commonly thought. After leaving their hometown, they traveled directly to Beijing for a better career and income.

About 40 percent of the respondents even moved their family to the city, which some experts regard as a new characteristic of Beijing's floating population, said the survey report.

The migrant population in Beijing currently stands at over three and a half million.

(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2007)