Abstract
In China, farmers employed in non-farm work have become important socio-economic actors, but few studies have examined the farmers’ perspective in making their work location choices. Based on "push-pull" migration theory, this paper utilizes sectional data from a 2013 survey of farmers in China’s Three Gorges Reservoir area to empirically analyze the factors influencing migrant workers’ choice of employment location. The results indicate that 60.46% of laborers have migrated from their home province, whereas 39.54% have remained in their home province. Focusing on personal, household, and community characteristics—in addition to the economic characteristics of the sample counties—multinomial logistic regression models reveal that farmer-laborers’ employment location decisions are influenced by their personal capital endowment (age, years of education and social networks), family structure (the number of laborers, elders, children and students), home village characteristics (location, economic development level and the degree of relief of the land) and home county economic development level. Notably, male and female laborers’ location decisions reveal a converging trend, and their differences are not pronounced. Per capita arable land area has little influence on location decisions, whereas the educational level of laborers has a significant impact. The results differ significantly from those found in previous studies.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Alasia A, Weersink A, Bollman RD, et al. (2009) Off-farm labour decision of Canadian farm operators: Urbanization effects and rural labour market linkages. Journal of Rural Studies 25: 12–24. DOI:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2008.04.002
Arslan A, Taylor JE (2012) Transforming rural economies: migration, income generation and inequality in rural Mexico. The Journal of Development Studies 48: 1156–1176. DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2012.682985
Bai JY (2009) Analysis of the spatial selection mechanism of migrants from the perspective of human capital and social capital. Journal of Southwest University of Science and Technology 6: 56–64. (In Chinese)
Chen GJ, Fang YP, Shen MY, et al. (2007) Mountain development report: Chinese mountain settlement research. The Commercial Press, Beijing, China. (In Chinese)
China National Statistical Bureau (CNSB) (2013a) China yearbook of household survey in 2013. China Statistical Press, Beijing, China. (In Chinese)
China National Statistical Bureau (CNSB) (2013b) Migrant workers monitoring report in 2013. China Statistical Press, Beijing, China. (In Chinese)
Clark DE, Knapp TA, White NE (1996) Personal and locationspecific characteristics and elderly interstate migration. Growth and Change 27: 327–351. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2257.1996.tb00909.x
Coffey D, Papp J, Spears D (2015) Short-term labor migration from rural north India: evidence from new survey data. Population Research and Policy Review 34: 361–380. DOI: 10.1007/s11113-014-9349-2
Czaika Z, Kis-Katos K (2009) Civil conflict and displacement: village-level determinants of forced migration in Aceh. Journal of Peace Research 46: 399–418. DOI: 10.1177/0022343309102659
Deshingkar P (2003) Improved livelihoods in improved watersheds: can migration be mitigated? In watershed management challenges: improving productivity, resources and livelihoods. Colombo: International Water Management Institute.
Etzo I (2011) The determinants of the recent interregional migration flows in Italy: a panel data analysis. Journal of Regional Science 51: 948–966. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9787.2011.00730.x
Fang YP, Fan J, Shen MY, et al. (2014) Sensitivity of livelihood strategy to livelihood capital in mountain areas: Empirical analysis based on different settlements in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, China. Ecological Indicators 38: 225–235. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2013.11.007
Fu YM, Gabriel A (2012) Labor migration, human capital agglomeration and regional development in China. Regional Science and Urban Economics 42: 473–484. DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2011.08.006
Gao GH, Li XJ, Qiao JJ (2009) Factors affecting employment destination for farm households in central rural China: A case study of three villages in Henan Province. Geography Research 28: 1484–1493. (In Chinese)
Hossain MZ (2001) Rural-urban migration in Bangladesh: a micro-level study. Seminar Proceedings on Internal Migration, Brazil IUSSP Conference, August 20-24, 2001.
Jia XP, Xiang C, Huang JK (2013) Microfinance, selfemployment, and entrepreneurs in less developed areas of rural China. China Economic Review 27: 94–103. DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2013.09.001
John K, Deng QH, Li S (2011) The puzzle of migrant labour shortage and rural labour surplus in China. China Economic Review 22: 585–600. DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2011.01.006
Lamonica GR, Zagaglia B (2013) The determinants of internal mobility in Italy, 1995-2006: A comparison of Italians and resident foreigners. Demographic Research 29: 407–439. DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2013.29.16
Lawson VA (1998) Hierarchical households and gendered migration in Latin America: feminist extensions to migration research. Progress in Human Geography 22: 39–53. DOI: 10.1191/030913298677526732
Lei G, Zheng L (2005) Migration as the second-best option: local power and off-farm employment. The China Quarterly 181: 22–45. DOI: 10.1017/S0305741005000020
Liang YC, Li SZ (2014) Sustainable livelihoods and development in rural China: based on microeconomic perspective. Social Science Academic Press, Beijing, China. (In Chinese)
Liu JQ, Wang CR, Liu JH (2011) Factors affecting decision on employment destination for rural migrant workers. Population Research 35: 73–82. (In Chinese)
Liu SQ, Xie FT, Zhang HQ, et al. (2014) Influences on rural migrant workers’ selection of employment location in the mountainous and upland areas of Sichuan, China. Journal of Rural Studies 33: 71–81. DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2013.11.001
Li C, Li SZ (2014) Labor out-migration and the rural household’s sustainable livelihood from the microperspective. Social Science Academic Press, Beijing, China. pp 1–10. (In Chinese)
Li Q (2003) An analysis of push and pull factors in the migration of rural workers in China. China Social Science 1: 125–136. (In Chinese)
Li XJ, Li J, Gao GH, et al. (2009) Geography of rural households. Science Press, Beijing, China. pp 72–106. (In Chinese)
Mullan K, Grosjean P, Kontoleon A (2011) Land tenure arrangements and rural-urban migration in China. World Development 39: 123–133. DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2010. 08.009
Molho I (1984) A dynamic model of interregional migration flows in Great Britain. Journal of regional science 24: 317–337. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9787.1984.tb00806.x
Prayitno G, Nugraha AA, Sari N, et al. (2013) The impact of international migrant workers on rural labour availability (case study ganjaran village, Malang Regency). Procedia Environmental Sciences 17: 992–998. DOI: 10.1016/j.proenv.2013.02.118
Qi XH, Zhu Y, Zhou YP, et al. (2012) Adouble-pull model of rural labor migration and its in situ urbanizationeffect: cases studies of three coastal areas in southeast China. Scientia Geographica Sinica 32: 25–30. (In Chinese)
Raul DW, Humberto MC (2007) There shaping of Mexican labor exports under NAFTA: paradoxes and challenges. International Migration Review 41: 656–679. DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-7379.2007.00089.x
Schultz TW (1961) Investment in human capital. The American Economic Review 51: 1–17.
Siriwardhana C, Wickramage K, Jayaweera K, et al. (2015) Impact of economic labour migration: A qualitative exploration of left-behind family member perspectives in Sri Lanka. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 17: 885–894. DOI: 10.1007/s10903-013-9951-0.
Sridhar KS, Reddy AV, Srinath P (2012) Is it push or pull? Recent evidence from migration into Bangalore, India. Journal of International Migration and Integration 14: 287–306. DOI: 10.1007/s12134-012-0241-9
Stark O, Taylor JE (1991) Migration incentives, migration types: the role of relative privation. The Economic Journal 408: 1163–1178. DOI: 10.2307/2234433
Thissena F, Fortuijna JD, Strijkerb D, et al. (2010) Migration intentions of rural youth in the West hoek, Flanders, Belgium and the Veenkoloniën, The Netherlands. Journal of Rural Studies 26: 428–436. DOI:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2010.05.001
Todaro MP (1969) A model of migration and urban unemployment in less developed countries. American Economic Review 59: 105–133. Available online at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1811100 (Accessed on March 1969)
Wang CC (2010) Employment decision-making and labor mobility in Chinese peasant households. People’s Publishing House, Beijing, China. pp 1–20. (In Chinese)
Willmore L, Cao GY, Xin LJ (2012) Determinants of off-farm work and temporary migration in China. Population and Environment 33: 161–185. DOI: 10.1007//11111-011-0135-3
Xu DD, Zhang JF, Rasul G, et al. (2015) Household Livelihood Strategies and Dependence on Agriculture in the Mountainous Settlements in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China. Sustainability 7: 4850–4869. DOI: 10.3390/su7054850
Zhang KH, Song S (2003) Rural-urban migration and urbanization in China: Evidence from time-series and crosssection analyses. China Economic Review 14: 386–400. DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2003.09.018
Zhang M (2010) The impact of rural-urban migration: case study on the Loess Plateau of Central China. China Inform 24: 169–189. DOI: 10.1177/0920203X09356048
Zhang Y, Li R, Wang H, et al. (2008) Does the use of social network have positive effect on rural migrant’s wage? evidence from China. World Economic Papers 6: 73–84. (In Chinese)
Zhou DM (2001) The eternal pendulum-China’s rural labor mobility. Central Compilation & Translation Press, Beijing, China. (In Chinese)
Zhu N, Luo X (2010) The impact of migration on rural poverty and inequality: a case study in China. Agricultural Economics 41: 191–204. DOI:10.1111/j.1574-0862.2009.00434
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
http://orcid.org/0000-00001-6359-6540
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3102-0018
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8570-5402
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6853-0783
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7229-6619
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7820-5274
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xu, Dd., Zhang, Jf., Xie, Ft. et al. Influential factors in employment location selection based on “push-pull” migration theory—a case study in Three Gorges Reservoir area in China. J. Mt. Sci. 12, 1562–1581 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-014-3371-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-014-3371-z