The impact of air pollution on employment location choice: Evidence from China's migrant population

Abstract

Air pollution and labor mobility are two important social phenomena associated with China's pursuit of high-quality development. First, this paper matches China's urban characteristics data with China Migrants Dynamic Survey in 2017. Then, the conditional logit model is used to empirically investigate the effects and heterogeneity of air pollution on employment location choice. Finally, combined with the concept of risk perception in psychology, this paper explores the underlying mechanisms. The main results are as follows: (1) Air pollution has a significant negative effect on employment location choice of labor force. Specifically, a 1 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentration in a city can result in a significant decrease of 0.917 percentage points in the probability that the labor force will choose to work in that city. (2) There are heterogeneous characteristics of the negative impact of air pollution on employment location choice. Those with higher education level, outdoor work, relatively higher individual income, and 1–2 minor children are more sensitive to air pollution when choosing employment sites. (3) The mechanism analysis shows that perceived air pollution is an important channel influencing labor's employment location choice, and the stronger the stimulus of air pollution, the greater the negative impact of perceived air pollution on labor force.