IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp2152.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

China's Lesser Known Migrants

Author

Listed:
  • Quheng, Deng

    (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

  • Gustafsson, Björn Anders

    (Göteborg University)

Abstract

In China hukou (the household registration system) imposes barriers on permanent migration from rural to urban areas. Using large surveys for 2002, we find that permanent migrants number about 100 million persons and constitute approximately 20 percent of all urban residents. Receiving a long education, being a cadre or becoming an officer in the People's Liberation Army are important career paths towards urbanisation and permanent migrants are much better-off then their counterparts left behind in rural China. The probability of becoming a permanent migrant is positively related to parental education, belonging to the ethnic majority and the parent's membership in the Communist Party. At the destination, most permanent migrants are economically well-integrated. They have a higher probability to be working than their urban-born counterparts and those who receive a hukou before age 25 typically earn at least as much as their urban-born counterparts. The exceptions for this are those permanent migrants who receive a hukou after age 25 and people who received their hukou through informal routes.

Suggested Citation

  • Quheng, Deng & Gustafsson, Björn Anders, 2006. "China's Lesser Known Migrants," IZA Discussion Papers 2152, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2152
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp2152.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Pak-Wai & Zhang, Junsen & Chong, Shu-Chuen, 2004. "Occupational segregation and wage differentials between natives and immigrants: evidence from Hong Kong," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 395-413, February.
    2. Knight, John & Song, Lina, 1999. "The Rural-Urban Divide: Economic Disparities and Interactions in China," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198293309.
    3. Liu, Zhiqiang, 2005. "Institution and inequality: the hukou system in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 133-157, March.
    4. Zhang, Junsen & Zhao, Yaohui & Park, Albert & Song, Xiaoqing, 2005. "Economic returns to schooling in urban China, 1988 to 2001," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 730-752, December.
    5. Xuejin Zuo & Feng Wang, 1999. "Inside China's Cities: Institutional Barriers and Opportunities for Urban Migrants," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 276-280, May.
    6. Randall S. Brown & Marilyn Moon & Barbara S. Zoloth, 1980. "Incorporating Occupational Attainment in Studies of Male-Female Earnings Differentials," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 15(1), pages 3-28.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jiang, Shiqing & Lu, Ming & Sato, Hiroshi, 2012. "Identity, Inequality, and Happiness: Evidence from Urban China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1190-1200.
    2. Xing, Chunbing & Sun, Yan, 2019. "Economic Opportunities and Gender Equity: The Migration and Education Decisions of Young Women from Rural China," IZA Discussion Papers 12311, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Hu, Feng & Xu, Zhaoyuan & Chen, Yuyu, 2011. "Circular migration, or permanent stay? Evidence from China's rural-urban migration," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 64-74, March.
    4. Luo, Dongdong & Xing, Chunbing, 2016. "Population adjustments in response to local demand shifts in China," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 101-114.
    5. Liu, Jing & Xing, Chunbing, 2016. "Migrate for education: An unintended effect of school district combination in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 192-206.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Yiu Por (Vincent) & Zhang, Yuan, 2018. "A decomposition method on employment and wage discrimination and its application in urban China (2002–2013)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Stefan Gravemeyer & Thomas Gries & Jinjun Xue, 2008. "Discrimination, Income Determination and Inequality – The case of Shenzhen," Working Papers CIE 16, Paderborn University, CIE Center for International Economics.
    3. Stefan Gravemeyer & Thomas Gries & Jinjun Xue, 2011. "Income Determination and Income Discrimination in Shenzhen," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(7), pages 1457-1475, May.
    4. Qu, Zhaopeng (Frank) & Zhao, Zhong, 2008. "Urban-Rural Consumption Inequality in China from 1988 to 2002: Evidence from Quantile Regression Decomposition," IZA Discussion Papers 3659, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Zhang, Li & Sharpe, Rhonda Vonshay & Li, Shi & Darity, William A., 2016. "Wage differentials between urban and rural-urban migrant workers in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 222-233.
    6. GOH, Chor-ching & LUO, Xubei & ZHU, Nong, 2009. "Income growth, inequality and poverty reduction: A case study of eight provinces in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 485-496, September.
    7. Hou, Benyufang & Liu, Hong & Wang, Sophie Xuefei, 2020. "Returns to military service in off-farm wage employment: Evidence from rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    8. Dipanwita Sarkar & Michael Kidd, 2016. "The impact of endogenous occupational attainment on native-migrant wage distributions," QuBE Working Papers 042, QUT Business School.
    9. Ha, Wei & Yi, Junjian & Zhang, Junsen, 2016. "Brain drain, brain gain, and economic growth in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 322-337.
    10. Amita Majumder & Chayanika Mitra, 2017. "Gender Bias in Education in West Bengal," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 15(1), pages 173-196, March.
    11. Kato, Takao & Shu, Pian, 2016. "Competition and social identity in the workplace: Evidence from a Chinese textile firm," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PA), pages 37-50.
    12. Démurger, Sylvie & Gurgand, Marc & Li, Shi & Yue, Ximing, 2009. "Migrants as second-class workers in urban China? A decomposition analysis," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 610-628, December.
    13. Hongbin Li & Lei Li & Binzhen Wu & Yanyan Xiong, 2012. "The End of Cheap Chinese Labor," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(4), pages 57-74, Fall.
    14. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2016. "Hukou system reforms and skilled-unskilled wage inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 90-103.
    15. Jonathan Haughton & Wendi Sun & Le Thi Thanh Loan, 2018. "Discrimination against Migrants in Urban Vietnam," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 24(3), pages 211-232, August.
    16. Fang, Hai & Eggleston, Karen N. & Rizzo, John A. & Zeckhauser, Richard, 2010. "Female Employment and Fertility in Rural China," Working Paper Series rwp10-011, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    17. Shi, Li., 2008. "Rural migrant workers in China : scenario, challenges and public policy," ILO Working Papers 994204063402676, International Labour Organization.
    18. Duan, Yide & Zhang, Haotian & Wang, Wenfu & Ao, Xiaoyan, 2022. "The effects of China's higher education expansion on urban and rural intergenerational mobility," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    19. Debayan Pakrashi & Paul Frijters, 2017. "Migration and Discrimination in Urban China: A Decomposition Approach," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(4), pages 821-840, December.
    20. Luo, Xubei & Zhu, Nong, 2008. "Rising income inequality in China : a race to the top," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4700, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    hukou; rural-to-urban migration; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2152. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.