Wage Income and Returns to Education in Rural China: Based on Quantile Regression Method

Abstract

Employing quantile regression method, this paper estimated the Mincer equation of the wage income of Chinese rural residents. The results showed that, as income quantiles increased, returns to rural education declined slowly at first and then made a small rise. Through comparing wage income returns to education between male and female, this paper found that the returns to education of female were significantly higher than those of male at both 10% and 25% income quantiles. In addition, by dividing rural non-farm workers into five groups based on the economic nature of their units, the essay found that the diversity of units’ economic nature and the differences in rates of education returns among people were the causes of income inequality among rural nonagricultural workers.