Rural Labor Mobility Research Articles

Digital technology access, labor market behavior, and income inequality in rural China

This study uses China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data from 2010 to 2018 to empirically investigate the interplay between digital technology access, labor market behavior, and income inequality in rural China. The following salient conclusions are derived. Digital technology access has a substantial negative influence on individual income inequality in rural China, with a more pronounced inhibitory effect on inequality among low-income groups, males, middle and higher professional classes, and younger cohorts. Mechanism analysis suggests that digital technology access significantly impacts a range of rural labor practices, including increasing the frequency of digital technology use among rural inhabitants, decreasing credit costs, enhancing entrepreneurial activities, and boosting rural labor mobility. Based on these findings, this study proposes accelerating digital infrastructure development in rural regions, improving digital and financial literacy among rural residents, and refining inclusive digital financial services to facilitate more stable and sustainable progress to promote common prosperity.

Trade liberalisation and off-farm employment of the rural labour force: Evidence from China’s WTO accession

This paper investigates the impact of trade liberalisation on the rural labour force in China, with a particular focus on labour mobility and off-farm employment. The analysis utilises micro data from the National Fixed Point Survey and Chinese manufacturing firms. The identification strategy relies on combining information on the initial province labour and product market structure with the exogenous tariff reduction schedule over WTO accession and distinguishes between output markets and intermediate input tariffs. The results are as follows: First, the reduction of output tariffs does not promote rural labour mobility, whereas the reduction of input tariffs has a positive impact on mobility. Additionally, output tariffs reduce off-farm employment income and time, while input tariffs increase them. This conclusion is applicable only to low-skilled labour. Second, the tariff reduction significantly affects total wages and the number of employees in firms, as supported by macro data. This suggests that tariff cuts have implications for firm employment and, consequently, rural employment. Third, tariff cuts have a more pronounced effect on young individuals, those with lower levels of education, and the female workforce. Therefore, the interests of these groups should be fully considered in the process of further import liberalisation and tariff reduction.

Labor mobility and clean energy use: Evidence from rural households in China

One of the critical challenges facing China is environmental pollution caused by insufficient use of clean energy. This paper empirically investigates the impact of rural labor mobility on household clean energy use using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). The results indicate that labor mobility significantly promotes the adoption of clean energy by rural households, with income effects and information channel effects serving as the underlying mechanisms. The study also finds that health risks, as an important consideration for household energy use choices, enhance this positive effect. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis reveals that labor mobility has a greater impact on households with lower levels of education, lack of social security, and those located in central and western regions. Therefore, the government should take measures to increase the income of the rural migrant population and continuously widen the information channels for rural households to promote clean energy use. The findings of this study provide a new perspective and evidence for understanding household energy use behavior in China, offering valuable insights for policymakers aiming to expand the use of clean energy.

Is increasing income the only reason for rural labor mobility?—A case study of Heilongjiang, China

IntroductionIt is widely known that rural labor mobility is of the utmost importance for the livelihoods of families in rural areas of developing countries. While it increases the income and overall labor productivity of rural households, it also creates many inevitable rural recessions. Existing studies have different views on whether increasing income is the only reason for rural labor mobility.MethodsThis paper discusses the influencing factors of rural labor mobility and investigates research on the causes of rural labor mobility. To do so, the study analyzes micro-survey data of 47 villages in 13 cities in Heilongjiang province, China, from 2014 to 2019. Considering the basic situation of rural families and labor mobility, the actual demand for rural laborers in Heilongjiang province is also analyzed.ResultsThe research results show that increasing income is not the only reason for the flow of rural labor, and that rural labor mobility requires more than just rising incomes.DiscussionThis study's main contribution is identifying that increased income does have a positive and significant impact on rural labor mobility, but seeking job opportunities, pursuing better-quality education for children, and developing prospects are significant factors in the current rural labor mobility.

The Impact of Rural Labor Migration on Relative Household Poverty: An Empirical Analysis Based on China Household Longitudinal Survey Data (CFPS)

Based on the data of China Household Tracking Survey (CFPS) in 2 016 and 2018, this paper forms a balance panel by using ordinary least squares (OLS). The model and the Probit model are empirical and study the impact of rural labor mobility on relative household poverty. The findings suggest that rural labour mobility contributes to reducing relative household poverty and remains reliable after robustness tests by changing the measures of the interpreted variables. Therefore, it is necessary to reasonably guide the mobility of rural labor, improve the quality of labor quality, and reduce the relative poverty of families.

Does Eco-Compensation Alleviate Rural Poverty? New Evidence from National Key Ecological Function Areas in China.

The Transfer Payment Policy of National Key Ecological Functional Areas (TPEFAP), a well-known ecological compensation (eco-compensation) scheme in China, has been proposed by the government to alleviate ecological poverty and protect the environment. In literature, the effectiveness of the TPEFAP on environmental conservation has been widely examined, while few pay attention to the effect of the TPEFAP on poverty alleviation, especially with the consideration of its spatial spillovers as well. In this paper, we utilize panel data covering the key ecological functional areas of China during the period 2011–2018 to evaluate the impact of the TPEFAP on poverty alleviation and also its spatial spillovers by employing the synthetic control method (SCM) and the dynamic spatial Durbin model, respectively. Specifically, we apply the entropy weight method (EWM) to calculate the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) and measure pro-poor effect in terms of MPI change. The results show that: (1) TPEFAP has stable positive effects on MPI in Hubei, Yunnan, Jilin, Gansu, and Ningxia, while the impact on Qinghai fluctuates. (2) MPI presents a significant spatial correlation. Furthermore, both the direct and indirect effects of TPEFAP on MPI are significant and stable positive, for both short- or long-term. (3) For potential channels, rural non-farm employment, rural labor mobility, and agricultural productivity are the key pathways through which the TPEFAP can alleviate poverty both in local and adjacent provinces. However, it is difficult to find significant positive spatial spillovers for the TPEFAP if only the natural resources scale is considered. This study indicates that the government should pay attention to the policy expectations of ecological poverty alleviation and, in future eco-compensation, must further increase the coverage of subsidies and diversify the forms of subsidies.

A Study on Rural Labour Mobility, Population Urbanisation and the Urban-rural Income Gap

This paper takes Guangdong Province, China as the research object, and selects the time series data of three periods, 1978-2019, 1978-2004 and 2005-2019 to construct VAR model, Johansen test and impulse response function and other empirical analysis, to examine the causal relationship between the three and study the impact of rural labor mobility, population urbanization on the urban-rural income gap. The study finds that: firstly, rural labour mobility significantly widens the urban-rural income gap, while the accelerated urbanisation of the population effectively reduces the urban-rural income gap; secondly, the impact of rural labour mobility and population urbanisation on the urban-rural income gap has time differences.

Transport infrastructure and urban-rural income disparity: A municipal-level analysis in China

Although the effects of transport infrastructure on regional development have been widely discussed, the relationship between transport infrastructure and urban–rural income disparities has scarcely been examined. This study provides new evidence of those disparities by looking at 227 prefectural-level cities in China in 2016. We found that national, provincial and municipal roads played a positive role in narrowing the urban–rural income gap by facilitating rural labour mobility. The high coefficient of provincial and municipal roads indicates that they provide access to local and regional job markets for migrant farmers. The impact of roads is most remarkable in China's southwestern and middle regions, demonstrating that road infrastructure is more important for rural residents in these regions to increase their income. The least significant impact of road infrastructure was found in the northeast region, where road infrastructure is not the main restriction factor for its development. Policymakers should consider the impact of road infrastructure in different regions to reduce the urban–rural income gap.

Rural Labor Mobility in the Process of Industrialization under Triple Dimensions

Rural-to-urban labor migration in developing economies, if beyond employment absorption capacity, is both a symptom of underdevelopment and the factor that exacerbates underdevelopment. Although various theories in development economics, in particular, the dual economy, together with numerous migration literature, bore intention to explore a balanced development approach in rural labor mobility, content-based studies are often overwhelmed, whereas the context/circumstance-based angle (like industrialization) in the research of labor mobility is always neglected. This paper reviews, under an ancient Chinese epistemological methodology that consists of time, space, and people, labor mobnility theories. It combines the old institutionalist and new structuralist schools of thought, searching a dynamic theoretical framework to deconstruct the overarching labor mobility in the process of industrialization.

The construction of the Belo Monte dam in the Brazilian Amazon and its consequences on regional rural labor

The article analyzes the impacts of the Belo Monte dam construction on the rural labor mobility dynamics and the effects on the agropastoral activities, in the rural areas of the Altamira region, Pará state, in the Brazilian Amazon. The study is based on longitudinal data organized as a panel survey applied to fixed sample of 402 rural properties for each survey in the years of 1997/98, 2005 and 2015. The construction of Belo Monte dam produced a demographic boom in Altamira, with the urban population almost doubled during the construction period between 2011 and 2014. The increased demand for food in Altamira’s markets was expected to boost production in the local agropastoral economy. However, the supply of jobs during the dam construction to work in the dam or in the new jobs in the urban area led to an exodus of rural workers, causing a shortage of labor in rural areas and an increase in labor costs of the agricultural activities. This scenario has accelerated the trend of productive specialization of agricultural commodities (i.e., beef and cocoa) instead of strengthening the local agricultural production to supply the local markets with vegetables and staple crops. Labor shortage in rural areas was the main driver of changes in the local agricultural activities and the impacts were more evident among the households with lower purchasing power and less market integration. The study shows that the impacts of large dams on the agricultural sector tend to vary according to the degree of consolidation of the productive activities and the market conditions of the products associated to these activities at the time the changes occur (i.e., the period of the dam construction). The study shows that the promises made that the dam would lead to regional economic development were not delivered, and that the agricultural sector if anything declined in its food production capacity. Governments and dam builders should either not promise, or make better plans and policy making to ensure that these goals are achieved.

Book Review: D. Narasimha Reddy and Kailash Sarap (Eds), Rural Labour Mobility in Times of Structural Transformation Dynamics and Perspectives from Asian Economies

Book Review: D. Narasimha Reddy and Kailash Sarap (Eds), <i>Rural Labour Mobility in Times of Structural Transformation Dynamics and Perspectives from Asian Economies</i>

D. Narasimha Reddy and Kailash Sarap (eds). 2017. Rural Labour Mobility in Times of Structural Transformation: Dynamics and Perspectives from Asian Economies

D. Narasimha Reddy and Kailash Sarap (eds). 2017. Rural Labour Mobility in Times of Structural Transformation: Dynamics and Perspectives from Asian Economies

Does farmland transfer affect rural labour mobility?

Does farmland transfer affect rural labour mobility?

How Long Do Return Migrants Stay in Their Home Counties? Trends and Causes

Return migration is an important form of rural labor mobility in China, and it has been given growing concern recently by governments in the background of rural revitalization. However, research covering the duration of stay in migrants’ home counties, a basic question of labor mobility and a precondition for policy making, is far from enough. The aim of this paper is to analyze the period of return for these migrants based on employment history data by tracking their mobility among rural laborers from 1998 to 2015. The data was collected from a randomized, nationally representative sample of 100 rural villages in five provinces of China. We find that only 22.3 percent of migrants returned from 1998 to 2015, and most return migrants still remained in their home counties as of 2015. Using the OLS, Tobit, and Heckman sample selection models, the results show that return migrants who are old, more educated, unmarried, and with children are more likely to stay longer in their home counties. From a development perspective, return migrants are expected to play an important role in the process of rural revitalization.

Market Interlinked, System Non-specialized: Farmland Transfer Impacts on Rural Labor Mobility

A survey was conducted on Canton of China land owners transferring farmland property rights and migrating from rural area to urban. The research objective was to determine how the farmland property rights transfer impacted rural labor migration behavior. Theoretical models proved that transfer of farmland would drive rural labor migration. Empirical results showed farmland transfer market interlinks with rural labor market in a non-specialized production system.

Rural out‐migration and economic development at origin: A review of the evidence

AbstractA major feature of the current ‘mass migration’ process is its strong linkages to countries of origin. Migrants belong to spatially extended families and play a crucial role in shaping economic development in home regions. This paper reviews the wide‐ranging socio‐economic literature on the nexus between labor migration, both domestic and international, and economic development at origin, with a special focus on out‐migration from poor rural regions of developing countries. We disentangle direct effects on migrant‐sending households from spillover effects on the rest of the economy, highlighting some key knowledge gaps and policy concerns related to the complex and intimate relation between rural labour mobility and economic behaviour of people left behind. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

China's land arrangements and rural labor mobility

Chinese farm families under the Household Responsibility System have the land use-rights but not the rights of alienation. If permanently leaving agriculture, they have to return the land to local authorities and consequently give up a stream of future land earnings. This paper analyzes the deterrent effect of this land arrangement on labor mobility by constructing a household model which considers both part-time farming and permanent migration decisions. The implications of the model are consistent with the recent Chinese experience of rural floating population in cities and the rapid growth of rural nonagricultural employment.

Dualism and Reform in China

According to the dual economy tradition of economic development models, less developed economies at an early stage of development are marked by a dichotomy between a modern sector, in which workers are hired at an institutional wage in numbers that rise with the growth of the industrial capital stock, and a traditional sector, in which workers subsist at an income level that is somewhat below the indus-