An Inquiry Into The Residential Shift Of Rural Migrants In China

The problem of the migrants' residence in the city is a part of the study on the surplus rural labors' shift. By examining the different countries in the world, this paper identified the common phenomenon that the surplus rural labor would move to the non-agricultural sector and city during the industrialization stage, however, the institutions of the industry-oriented policy and the Household Registration System (Hukou) brought into China distinguishing from the commons, which exhibited the rigid rural-urban dual structure and resulted in the special group of rural migrants with the character of migration without residence. Both scholars and the government are paying attention to the growing rural migrants, some suggestions and beneficial policies were proposed to deal with the conflicts resulted from their employment in the cities with the expectation to improve their life and work environment. Despite of the endeavor, generally the current lower social-economic and political situation of the rural migrants as well as the living status of keeping migrating remained, so far the group has never been the mass accepted by the all level of cities. Promoting the rural migrants shifting to the cities is necessary for both of the theory study and the realistic problem.This paper contributed to the theory with the following aspects:Most important of all, a "pull-push" model of residential decision by the rural migrants was set up based on the " pull-push" model of population, the factors of pulling and pushing in the model were examined in the empiric work, which tested the two concepts of "employing in the city" pushed by the rural forces and "residence in the countryside" pushed by the urban forces, as a result, the group of rural migrants is the outcome of the two forces.Moreover, the fundamental reason why the rural migrants got the lower wage in the urban dual labor market was analyzed according to the demand-supply and cost theory, the author regards that lower wage is the opportunity cost of the "high employment rate" for the rural migrants, so that is a reasonable decision by the group in the current institutional background.Finally, by use of the theory of the vicious circle of poverty and the theory of circular and cumulative causation, this paper explored the reason of lower status of the rural migrants and found that it is hard for them to merge into the cities due to the lower status.This paper also presented the significant findings from the empiric work:Firstly, the big city is the first residence choice by the rural migrants followed by the metropolitan and the fast developing cities and towns, their home town is the last choice.Secondly, females and married ones have the high propensity to reside in the cities rather than migrating; there exists the negative correlation between the educational level and the propensity to residence, that is the higher educational level, the lower inclination to residence; the relationship between the years of working and the residential will presented the reverse U curve, those who have worked for 6 to 8 years in the city would like to reside there most.Thirdly, the agricultural incomes of the rural migrants and their households have the least distinctive influence on the decision to reside in the city. The pull force coming from the countryside had impact on their residence in the city, it covers the lack of the education and skill, which is the most important force, the responsibility of raising their parents, the barrier to rural Hukou and the familiar atmosphere of the hometown, the factor of "Household Responsibility System" which was thought as the most important security of living for them by most scholars plays a less important role in the residence dicision.Fourthly, the more gain in the city, the stronger will to dwell in the city but differentiate among the groups of high income, it is not necessary for the high income group to have the higher rate to reside in the city than those ones with the lower income. The primary factor of the pushing force resulting from the city effecting the residence choice is the employment followed by the children's attendance of school, wage level and the living environment, also the urban social net and social capital don't have so important influence which were stressed by most scholars.Fifthly, the pushing force resulting from the city outweighs the pulling force resulting from the countryside, so it is key to eliminate the pushing force so as to facilitate the rural migrants' residence.Finally, from the perspective of rural - urban integrated development, the paper inquired into and proposed the suggestions and policies in terms of the employment, housing, social security and the urban social merging.