Research On Migrant Workers’ Income Quality

With the development of agricultural economy at this stage, attributes of migrantworkers’ income quality has become increasingly prominent. This paper sets migrant workers’income quality as research objective and try to investigate connotation of migrant workers’income quality from five dimensions including income’s adequacy, stability, structure, cost,and knowledge. Specific study objectives are as follows. In theory, we explore connotationand denotation of migrant workers’ income quality, discern the differences and similaritiesbetween migrant workers’ income quantity and quality, then derive the universal formulas ofmigrant workers’ income utility. In practice, we build migrant workers’ income qualityevaluation system. According to field research data in2012, we analyze objective reality ofmigrant workers’ income quality from five dimensions. Microscopically, we use Likert fivescale to measure subjective perception of migrant workers’ income quality satisfaction, setbinary Logit discrete choice model to analyze migrant workers’ income quality influencingfactors including personal characteristics, family characteristics and income characteristicsfrom each and overall dimensions, then proceed a statistical test. Macroscopically, we studymigrant workers’ income quality self-assessment and compare it with pure farmers and urbanresidents from two different perspectives respectively. Then explore the deep-seated causes ofincome gap between urban and rural areas and improvement mechanism.Firstly, we use literature analysis and normative analysis to collate and analyze theresearch status of farmers, migrant workers, income qulity and other related theoriesdomestically and abroad. Secondly, we use empirical analysis to investigate large-scale fieldresearch about migrant workers’ income adequacy, stability, structure, cost and knowledgeand obtain545valid data. Then we use binary logistic regression methods to excavateinfluencing factors of migrant workers’ income quality self-assessment on the basis of database. After that we use comparative analysis to analyze income quality evaluation among purefarmers, migrant workers and urban residents laterally and migrant workers’ annual totalhousehold income trend in2009,2010,2011longitudinally.Through systematic analysis of2012survey data research we find that:(1) From theperspective of an objective reality to conclude: except migrant workers’ income adequacy, allthe other aspects including income adequacy, stability, structure, cost and knowledge do notmeet the high standard of migrant workers’ income quality. Currently migrant workers’income quantity do not match its quality in China. Soaring quantity do not necessarilyrepresent the same proportion of the quality. This conclusion is also verified through the National Statistical Yearbook, migrant workers survey report in2009and other scholars’relevant research data.(2) From the subjective perspective of migrant workers’self-assessment to conclud: Compared with pure farmers, migrant workers are satisfied withtheir income adequacy, stability, structure and knowledge but unsatisfied with their incomecost. Overall, compared with the farmers, migrant workers are satisfied with their incomequality. Compared with urban residents, migrant workers are satisfied with their incomeadequacy, stability, structure, cost and knowledge. Overall, compared with urban residents,migrant workers are not satisfied with their income quality.(3) Compared with pure farmersand urban residents respectively, we build Binary Logit Model to evaluate factors influencingmigrant workers’ income quality satisfactory or not from five dimensions and overallperspective. Compared with the farmers, migrant workers who are female, older, married,with higher education level and skill levels and smaller family size, whose working placelocated in East China, with higher annual household income and monthly wage and largerannual growth rate, who change companies less frequently and can get their wages fully,whose wage account for larger ratio in their total income and one main income source is fromagriculture, whose bonus accounts for larger ratio in wage income, with less acquisition costsand health benefit from work and shorter daily working hours are more inclined to agree withhigher income quality satisfactory self-evaluation. Compared with the urban residents,migrant workers who are female, older, married, with higher education level and skill levelsand smaller family size, whose Hukou have transferred to cities and working place located inEast China, with higher annual household income and monthly wage, who change companiesless frequently, whose wage account for larger ratio in their total income and bonus accountsfor larger ratio in wage income, with less acquisition costs and health benefit from work andshorter daily working hours are more inclined to agree with higher income quality satisfactoryself-evaluation.The innovation of this study are the following three points. First, on the basis ofemphasizing the similarities and differences of the migrant workers’ income quantity andquality, we propose the concept of migrant workers’ income quality and focus its connotationand extension from theoretical perspective. Second, we construct evaluation index system ofmigrant workers’ income quality from five dimensions including income’s adequacy, stability,structure, cost and knowledge. Third, we use Logit method to assess migrant workers’ incomequality on the basis of empirical data in2012and draw the appropriate conclusions in thefinal when the reference object are pure farmers and urban residents respectively.