Migrant workers often go unpaid for their labor, state media reported, citing two surveys released. In 2004 alone, unpaid wages totaled nearly US$2.5bn and a quarter of 3,288 migrant workers questioned said they were not fully paid, according to the National Economic Research Institute survey. In Beijing, US$375m was owed last year to 700,000 laborers working on construction sites, the Ministry of Labor and Social security survey said.