Internal Migration and Labour Market Outcomes among Chinese Men and Women

Min Zhu , Centre for Demographic Studies, Autonomous University of Barcelona
Sergi Vidal, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

The economic reforms initiated in China since the mid-1980s have resulted in a more open labour market and a significant increase in internal migration. While previous research has demonstrated that, on average, migrants experience improvements in labour market outcomes, there is limited understanding of variations between men and women and the impact of migration on gender inequality. This study investigates changes in employment status and earnings of men and women following relocations and examines potential gendered patterns. Additionally, the study investigates the role of factors like marriage, parenthood, and household registration (Hukou) to shed light on underlying mechanisms and heterogeneous associations. The empirical analysis deploys fixed-effects regression models on a representative sample of 26,872 individuals (93,536 observations) from the China Family Panel Studies (2010-2018). Bivariate analyses show that, on average, both women and men display higher employment rates and individual net income after migration. Multivariate analyses show that only men experience a significant increase in labour market outcomes after migration. As expected in the family migration literature, marital status and co-residence with children lead to lower post-migration employment levels and income among women. In contrast, having an agricultural household registration negatively affects the post-migration labour market outcomes of men only. These findings contribute valuable insights into the significant role of migration in gendered labour market dynamics in China's evolving economic landscape.

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 Presented in Session 27. Flash session 1 Economics, Human Capital and Labour Markets