WANG Caiyun said she plans to cut back on her spending this month. She says that every month, but it's hard to give up the karaoke, travel and cosmetics.

Wang, 19, is a migrant worker from Anhui Province. She arrived in Shanghai, without her parents, in February 2012 and works as a manicurist near Jing'an Temple. She earns about 3,000 yuan a month but never manages to save a penny. She owes 3,000 yuan on her credit card.

"Thinking about it, I've overspent a little last month and maybe even the month before," she said.

"Fortunately, my parents don't expect me to send any money home to them. They just want me to take good care of myself and enjoy city life."

Wang is part of a new generation of migrant workers - the sons and daughters of often poor farmers who moved in waves to cities in the 1990s to seek a better life. Compared with their parents, they lack farm experience, don't work on construction sites, are better educated, have more disposable income and love to spend their money.

China's leaders are stressing the importance of consumer spending to support an economy suffering from slower export growth. The focus on consumption is now shifting from big cities to small, from white-collar workers to blue and from coastal areas to inland. Migrants are becoming an important economic force in that shift, especially the young.

"Most of our customers are migrants," said Zhao Qiang, a migrant himself, who works in a cell phone shop near Shanghai Railway Station. "When I first came to the city a year and half ago, one of the first things I did was exchange my cheap phone for an expensive touch screen cell. It was, like, my first big step toward becoming a city person."

There were 263 million migrant workers in China last year, the National Statistics Bureau reported. About a third of them were 30 years or younger.

In Shanghai, according to the latest data available, 6.7 million migrant workers accounted for about half of the work force in 2010.

Nationally, the monthly income of migrant workers last year increased faster than wages rose for non-migrants. Migrant income rose about 12 percent to 2,290 yuan a month.

The higher income is reflected in increased migrant spending.

Stark contrast

Down in the manicure shop, Wang presents a stark contrast to the stereotype image of a migrant worker in drab, gray clothing. Her own nails are painted in different colors, etched with flower patterns. She wears fake eyelashes, and her hair is cut, dyed and curled. She prefers to be called Lara.

The new migrant generation not only provides good business for the services industry but also forms the backbone of its employment.

Liu Jiangbo, 25, who moved to Shanghai from Fujian Province about two years ago, earns about 2,000 yuan a month making sandwiches in a Subway outlet in the downtown SML Center. He earns extra pocket money by doing freelance work for advertising companies.

"Most friends from my hometown are in services or sales rather than in construction," he said. "We can get jobs other than manual labor because we are better educated and younger."

Liu, who studied marketing at a college back home, said he came to Shanghai "to experience big city life and have some fun." He is not expected to send any money home to his parents.

He is fond of fashion, sometimes making purchases of designer brand clothing costing 1,000 yuan or more. He also likes karaoke and dining out with friends.

"The young migrant generation is more fickle than their parents," said Wang Lingyun, an official with the migrant worker management office of the Zhabei District Human Resource and Social Security Bureau.

"Growing up on the fruits of their parents' labor, many young migrants have faced little pressure in life."

The generation gap in farm and migrant families is widening.

Where thrifty migrant parents once came to big cities to earn more money and save up to build homes in their native towns, the new generation just wants to have a good time.

Lara Wang's parents, chestnut farmers, moved to big cities to work in construction and other menial jobs. They saved every yuan they could until they had enough to return to Anhui Province, start their own little business and build houses for themselves and each child.

That's not likely to be the dream path for Lara.

"I'm not a farmer," she said. "My parents and grandparents were farmers, but my little brother and I grew up in town. We don't think like farmers. I already have a house, so I don't need to save money. I can spend more."

(Mindy Liu also contributed to the article)