A further three million migrants from other provinces have arrived only within the past six months, bringing the total to about 30 million.
Migrant workers play a key role in Guangdong's economy.
Yet despite the fact that Guangdong's economy could not function without them, so-called outsiders are frequently discriminated against and blamed for prostitution, crime and other social ills. The current Strike Hard campaign across the country will probably have an impact on a number of migrants. Mr Ye also blamed the inflow of migrants for discrepancies in official population tallies for the province's 21 cities. A shortfall of 1.2 million emerged when figures from his office were compared with overall urban provincial figures. Many migrants had slipped through the census takers' net, he said.