A Research On The Shift Of The Rural Surplus Labor From Agriculture To Non-agriculture Industries

In China's modernization process, it is significant for the rural surplus labor to shift from agriculture to non-agriculture industries. A basic characteristic in the modernization process is that the agriculture population keeps dropping, so the shift seems conforming to the modernization development tendency. This dissertation intends to research on the shift of the rural surplus labor from agriculture to non-agriculture industries. And it is expected that this research can make some process in this area.There are several reasons for the emergence of the rural surplus labors: the increase of the rural labors, the decrease of the land, the advance of the agricultural technology, the reform of the regime in rural areas, and etc. In a certain regime, when capital substitutes labor, surplus labors will emerge. So, the development of labor-intensive industries will help realize the shift. The shift is necessary. It can enhance agricultural productivity; increase peasants' income as well as the entire society's wealth.In China's rural areas, there are two kinds of shift patterns, one is shift on the spot, and the other is shift to cities. Former researches took rural labors' pursuits for material wealth as their main reason for shift. The demand level theory tells us, people pursue both material and spiritual wealth, which also applies to the rural labors. As a result, when comparing those two shift patterns, it is necessary to take both material and spiritual wealth into consideration. Here a curve will be used for this analysis. This curve shows the same rich level with different combination of material and spiritual wealth. The analysis result is shift on the spot is the better choice. As for shift to what industry, the answer is labor-intensive industry.Nowadays, there exist many barriers in the process of shift on the spot. On one hand, the non-agriculture industries develop slowly, thus they cannot provide enough jobs; on the other, rural surplus labors have in themselves drawbacks, which harden the shift. In order to overcome these barriers, first, the rural areas should display their advantages to vigorously develop the agricultural products processing industry; second, establish the social service system; third, speed up the land move, at the same time strengthen the rural education and training.