The evolution of China's rural labor market in the 21st century: an empirical study based on nationally representative survey data at the household level. Issue 2 (30th October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Tonglong; Huang, Xiaowen; Zhang, Lina; Zhang, Linxiu
• Is Part Of: China agricultural economic review. Volume 13:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 349
• Page End: 366
• Publication Date: 2020-10-30
• Subjects: Off-farm employment -- Migration -- Rural labor market; D12 -- D72 -- H41; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- China -- Periodicals; Rural development -- China -- Periodicals; Agriculture and state -- China -- Periodicals; 338.10951
• DOI: 10.1108/CAER-06-2020-0134
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1756-137X

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the development of China's rural labor markets and the identification of the important factors that affect rural labor's off-farm employment and migration. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a set of long-term panel data, this paper makes a clear judgment on the trend of rural labor transfer. High-quality survey design makes it possible to examine the development of the rural labor market from multiple dimensions. Adding household fixed effects to the empirical model alleviates endogenous problems. Findings: The authors find that the increasing trend toward off-farm employment, which is dominated by migration, has continued. There are some other important findings: (1). young male workers dominated off-farm employment, but the gap between groups continues to narrow; (2). the structure of employment is a good response to the economic transformation and (3). the quality of off-farm laborers, especially in terms of human capital, has also enhanced significantly and has continued to support off-farm employment and migration. These findings all indicate that the China's rural labor markets have been constantly improving in recent years, although there is still segmentation. Originality/value: It is the first paper that uses a nationally representative survey data to address the development of rural labor market in the 21st century. With the help of a long-term panel data structure and by controlling the household-level fixed-effect, the authors obtained a deeper and more robust conclusion. Specifically, this article finds that whether it is for the off-farm transfer or the migration, the influence of labor age, gender, human capital and marital status is gradually weakening.