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Migration and Urban Poverty and Inequality in China

Author

Listed:
  • Park, Albert

    (Hong Kong University of Science & Technology)

  • Wang, Dewen

    (World Bank)

Abstract

Using data from recent surveys of migrants and local residents in 10 cities in 2005, this paper examines how migration influences measurements of urban poverty and inequality in China, and also compares how other indicators of well-being differ for migrants and local residents. Contrary to previous studies that report that the income poverty rate of migrant households is 1.5 times that of local resident households, we find relatively small differences in the poverty rates of migrants and local residents. Although the hourly wages of migrants are much lower than those of local residents, migrant workers work longer hours and have lower dependency ratios and higher labor force participation rates. Including migrants increases somewhat measures of urban income inequality. Significant differences between migrants and local residents are found for non-income welfare indicators such as housing conditions and access to social insurance programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Park, Albert & Wang, Dewen, 2010. "Migration and Urban Poverty and Inequality in China," IZA Discussion Papers 4877, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4877
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    2. World Bank, 2009. "China - From Poor Areas to Poor People : China’s Evolving Poverty Reduction Agenda - An Assessment of Poverty and Inequality in China," World Bank Publications - Reports 3031, The World Bank Group.
    3. Brandt, Loren & Holz, Carsten A, 2006. "Spatial Price Differences in China: Estimates and Implications," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(1), pages 43-86, October.
    4. John Giles & Albert Park & Fang Cai, 2003. "How has Economic Restructuring Affected China???s Urban Workers?," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 2003-628, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
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    Cited by:

    1. David Dollar & Benjamin F. Jones, 2013. "China: An Institutional View of an Unusual Macroeconomy," NBER Working Papers 19662, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Haining Wang & Fei Guo & Zhiming Cheng, 2015. "A distributional analysis of wage discrimination against migrant workers in China’s urban labour market," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(13), pages 2383-2403, October.
    3. Jiquan Peng & Juan Chen & Liguo Zhang, 2022. "Gender-Differentiated Poverty among Migrant Workers: Aggregation and Decomposition Analysis of the Chinese Case for the Years 2012–2018," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-23, May.
    4. Xing, Chunbing, 2009. "Migration, Self-selection, and Income Distributions: Evidence from Rural and Urban China," MPRA Paper 17036, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Fei Yan, 2018. "Urban poverty, economic restructuring and poverty reduction policy in urban China: Evidence from Shanghai, 1978–2008," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(4), pages 465-481, July.
    6. Yunli Bai & Weidong Wang & Linxiu Zhang, 2018. "How Long Do Return Migrants Stay in Their Home Counties? Trends and Causes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-21, November.
    7. Tak Wing Chan, 2021. "The Dynamics of Relative Poverty in China in a Comparative Perspective," DoQSS Working Papers 21-01, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    8. Min Zhou & Wei Guo, 2023. "Self-rated Health and Objective Health Status Among Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China: A Healthy Housing Perspective," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-24, February.
    9. Dongyong Zhang & Stephen Morse & Qiaoyun Ma, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development in China: Current Status and Future Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-23, August.
    10. Zhang, Dandan, 2020. "The evolution of the wage gap between rural migrants and the urban labour force in Chinese cities," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 64(1), January.
    11. Xiaobing Wang & Linghui Han & Jikun Huang & Linxiu Zhang & Scott Rozelle, 2016. "Gender and Off-farm Employment: Evidence from Rural China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 24(3), pages 18-36, May.
    12. Yiyan Chen & Zhaoyun Tang, 2023. "A Study of Multidimensional and Persistent Poverty among Migrant Workers: Evidence from China’s CFPS 2014–2020," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-15, May.
    13. Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Sai, Ding, 2023. "China's Urban Poor – Comparing Twice Poverty between Residents and Migrants in 2013 and 2018," IZA Discussion Papers 16255, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Jiaqi Qi & Xiaoyong Zheng & Peng Cao & Liqun Zhu, 2019. "The effect of e‐commerce agribusiness clusters on farmers’ migration decisions in China," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(1), pages 20-35, January.
    15. Wang, Xiaobing & Huang, Jikun & Zhang, Linxiu & Rozelle, Scott, 2011. "The rise of migration and the fall of self employment in rural China's labor market," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 573-584.
    16. Bai, Y. & Wang, W. & Zhang, L., 2018. "How long do returning migrants stay in their home county: Evidence from rural China during 1998 to 2015," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277380, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    17. Di Qi & Yichao Wu, 2016. "Child Income Poverty Levels and Trends in Urban China from 1989 to 2011," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 9(4), pages 1043-1058, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    inequality; poverty; urban; migration; social protection; 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

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