Migration, remittances and rural employment patterns: evidence from China

Sylvie Démurger, Li Shi, Migration, remittances and rural employment patterns: evidence from China,Groupe d’analyse et de théorie économique Lyon- Saint Étienne, October 2012. Full text available, HAL-SHS halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/74/44/38/PDF/1230.pdf

This paper explores the rural labor market impact of migration in China using cross- sectional data on rural households for the year 2007. A switching probit model is used to estimate the impact of belonging to a migrant-sending household on the individual occupa- tional choice categorized in four binary decisions: farm work, wage work, self-employment and housework. The paper then goes on to estimate how the impact of migration differs across different types of migrant households identified along two additional lines: remittances and migration history. Results show that individual occupational choice in rural China is responsive to migration, at both the individual and the family levels, but the impacts differ: individual migration experience favors subsequent local off-farm work, whereas at the family level, migration drives the left-behinds to farming rather than to off-farm activities. Our results also point to the interplay of various channels through which migration influences rural employment patterns.

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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