Improvement vs. decline isn’t a tie.

Totally agree. Although it's like the old saying 瘦死的骆驼比马大, right? Do you remember EU's Forced Labour Ban that affected Apples companies in China, and that the exploited Chinese workers complained to EU instead of CPC? Or Brazils BYD scandal that for Brazilians Chinese workers treatment by BYD was tantamount to slavery, while for the workers it was an improvement?

To add to that is the hukou system. It’s extremely flawed in it’s own way, no question. But for rural hukou holders, it does guarantee land use rights and homestead eligibility, a subsistence buffer that doesn’t exist in the same form in the US or Europe

Lets leave USA on the side. I'm not from there, from what I've seen I wouldn't like to live there as a worker.

does guarantee land use rights and homestead eligibility

Let's call spade a spade. Hukou is system made to stop urbanization. It's effects are that there's a lot of rural workers lacking social safety nets in cities that still migrated to the cities looking for better work opportunities, and because of missing social safety net they had no choice but to agree to be exploited by the capitalist class (no matter if privately owned or if state owned, if a company exploits the workforce it's a capitalistic leech, agreed?).

Sources: uh... Literally definition and exceptions under which migration was allowed, and the hukou wages are, what, 40% (?) lower for the same job today, see this or one of the sources (too many links opened on the phone, sorry) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecot.12412#ecot12412-bib-0029