Parental migration and young migrants’ wages in urban China: An exploratory analysis

Abstract

Since the initiation of the economic reforms in 1978, generations of Chinese migrants have moved from the countryside to cities to seek job opportunities. As a result of financial constraints and institutional obstacles, many migrants leave their children at the place of origin, to be taken care of by partners, grandparents or other caregivers. Whilst previous studies primarily focus on the impacts of parental migration on children’s education and health, very few studies have examined its longer-term impacts on labour market income when children reach adulthood. Yet parental migration is likely to influence children’s human capital accumulation and skill development. Drawing on data from the 2011 Chinese Migrant Dynamics Monitoring Survey, this article fills the gap by exploring the relationship between different types of parental migration and their children’s wages when the children have grown up and migrated to work in cities. Structural models are employed to estimate both education and wage equations simultaneously to capture the direct effect of parental migration on wages, together with the mediating effect of education. The results show significantly negative relationships between parental migration and young migrants’ educational attainment and wages. Those who experienced the out-migration of both parents are most disadvantaged in the urban labour market. The study is important for policies aimed at improving migrants’ life prospects and enhancing social mobility and equality.

Does housing liquidity matter? Housing property rights and labour market participation of older migrants in China

“…Over the past few decades, socio-economic reforms in China have encouraged a huge amount of the rural labour force to migrate to cities in search of opportunities (Liang and Ma, 2004; Lucas, 2004; Johnson and Woon, 2010; Lyu and Chen, 2019). In recent years, these rural-to-urban migrants, who have been significantly contributing to economic growth and urbanisation in China, are ageing at an unprecedented level (Chen and Powell, 2012).…”

Labour market performance of young migrant workers with heterogeneous educational trajectories in China

“…Recently, researchers have begun to pay attention to the intragroup heterogeneity of migrant workers, particularly the 'new-generation migrant workers' born during or after the 1980s. Lyu and Chen (2019) explore the wage differences among migrants born after the 1980s. However, they mainly investigate the correlation between the parent generation's migration choice and the child generation's income, whereas we investigate the education history and the labour market experience of the same generation.…”

“…However, they mainly investigate the correlation between the parent generation's migration choice and the child generation's income, whereas we investigate the education history and the labour market experience of the same generation. In addition, while Lyu and Chen (2019) demonstrate the correlation between the length of education and labour market returns, we focus on the wage impact of different educational trajectories, a research direction that has less conclusive empirical support to date. Therefore, this paper endeavours to form a constructive dialogue with the rising academic attention cast upon an ever more diversified population of young migrants.…”

“…In light ofXie (2012) andLyu and Chen (2019), we appreciate the value of controlling for the dummies of receiving cities (municipality/prefecture-level or below). However, in the 2010 survey data, the receiving cities are coded in a particular numerical scheme, which is not disclosed in the dataset or the technical document.…”

Education and Repertoires of Care in Migrant Families in Rural China

“…Lareau (2003);Hill and Torres (2010);Kim (2018); Lan (2018). 2 See, e.g.,Fan et al (2010);Qin and Albin (2010);Hu (2012);Wang and Mesman (2015); On the Road to School (2017);Lyu and Chen (2019).…”