Land arrangements for rural–urban migrant workers in China: Findings from Jiangsu Province

Abstract

A massive amount of rural labor in China has migrated to urban areas and transferred to non-agricultural employment. This has resulted in issues regarding how to effectively arrange land that was contracted to them under the household contract responsibility system. Using survey data collected in Jiangsu Province and a multinomial logit model, this article discusses three methods of land arrangement utilized by rural–urban migrant workers (family farming, land transfer and abandonment) and examines the correlates of land arrangement methods. We find that there is a significantly positive relation between family size and the family farming option. The improvements in human capital, higher wages, greater job stability, and a longer commute time between migrants’ cities of employment and their hometown are significantly correlated with land transfer or abandonment. These findings can elucidate China’s land policy in the context of massive rural–urban migration.