The Study Of Migrant Workers' Settlement Intention

The rapid surge of migration has been one of the utmost significant changes in China since it embarked on economic reforms in the late 1970s.The sheer size of floating people has profoundly affected China's development.Rural-urban migration,in particular,has been the main source of urban growth and has been rapidly reshaping the economic,demographic,and social landscapes of the Chinese city and countryside.Therefore,it has been focused continuously by the Chinese government and the academia.One of the most important problems is the settlement intention of migrant workers.This study attempts to answer these following questions.What are the basic characteristics of migrant workers' settlement intention?What are the determinants of settlement intention of migrant workers?Are there significant differences on settlement intention of migrant workers in different kind of cities?Whether there are different characteristics in settlement intention of migrant workers between different generations or not.This study use data from survey to migrant workers in seven provinces in 2014.This study has four main findings.Firstly,the settlement intention of migrant workers was low as a whole.Statistical analysis showed that only 16%of migrant workers want to settle in city,76%of the people made it clear that they do not want to settle.In addition,8%of the migrant workers have a neutral attitude to this question.Secondly,significant factors to settlement intention included:training,dialect ability,housing situation in hometown,spouses whether to stay hometown,the amount of the urban residents,trust to city government,and policies of household registration,labor contract,social exclusion,and belongingness to cityThirdly,there have not significant differences in migrant workers' settlement intention among different generations.We should not pay much attention to new generation of migrant workersFinally,there have not significant differences in migrant workers' settlement intention among different administrative level of citys.However,migrant workers' settlement intentions are different among defferent location of cities.To speak specificly,migrant workers in eastern cities are more likely to settle,but migrant workers in western cities are less likely to settle.This study suggests that there are several problems in existing household registration reform.First,the current household registration policies of migrant workers are kind of elitism and these policies require that migrant workers must have high human capital.Second,the policies of household registration reform endows that local government have many autonomous right.Local governments usually consider their intrests when they make local policies rather than the whole society or country.Third,the state makes household registration reform from top to down,usually neglects the intention of migrant workers.Based on the above research results,this study suggests three policy recommendations.Frist,we should improve the migrant workers' human capital.On the one hand,we shoul improve the quality of rural education and the educationl level;On the other hand,the government,enterepries,and NGOs provide various training for migrant workers.Second,we should enhance the personal interaction between urban residents and migrant workers.Third,the government should make policies on settlement to help migrant workers,such as real estate markets,children's education,medical treatment,and social welfare.