The undermining of rural labor out-migration by household strategies in China's migrant-sending areas: The case of Nanyang, Henan Province

Abstract

Although migrant labor shortages have affected migrant-receiving areas in Eastern China for many years, research shows that there is still an abundance of laborers in rural China. Therefore, the dynamics that undermine the out-migration of rural laborers in migrant-sending areas is a critical factor in the pace of China's urbanization process. Public policies promulgated by the central government focus on institutional reform, such as offering urban hukou33Also known as the household registration system, the hukou assigns citizens rural status (rural or agricultural hukou) or urban status (urban or non-agricultural hukou) in de jure terms. to rural migrants. Still, the decision-making processes of rural villagers and potential migrants remain unclear. Based on a case study of 32 townships in Nanyang, and further investigation in nine migrant-sending provinces, this paper probes into the livelihood strategies of rural households, rather than accepting the current conclusions of many Western research models. Preliminary findings reveal that rural livelihood strategies are undermining further out-migration of rural laborers in migrant-sending areas in three ways: 1) income diversification strategies that reflect emerging local off-farm job opportunities; 2) peri-urbanization driven by rural hukou that rural residents find increasingly attractive compared to urban hukou; and 3) localized urbanization driven by rural industrialization, better public services and rural residents' desire to keep families intact. These findings differ from previous explanations of the coexistence of migrant labor shortages and an abundant rural labor supply. Most importantly, they suggest that opening urban hukou entitlement will not promote further rural-to-urban migration per se to the extent that is generally assumed, unless a more coordinated rural–urban development model can be achieved to change rural household livelihood diversification strategies.