Education, Training And Income Of Migrant Workers In Poor Regions Of China

China has a large rural population, with almost70out of every100people being peasants on average. It is indeed an issue of great urgency for us to work out how to reverse the grim situation confronting the impoverished ones among the900million peasants and raise their income levels. Theories of human capital indicate that investments in education and training can bring about increases in social values and wealth as well as income levels of individuals. Based on peasants’level of education and participation in three types of occupational training, this paper researches the impacts of rural human capital investment on off-farm income using the Probit model and Mincer’s income model, followed by policy suggestions to increase peasants’income levels.Based on the review of theories and previous empirical studies, this paper first designs theoretical models and provides the descriptive statistics by analyzing the macroeconomic data of Shaanxi and the micro data obtained from surveys of6counties in Shaanxi Province by the2009-2010Rural Labor Force Project of Beijing Forestry University. Finally, empirical research is conducted. The main findings show that education levels have a positive effect on off-farm income, whereas training’s effect is insignificant due to the objects’self-selection. Based upon the empirical conclusions, five policy suggestions are put forward on strengthening peasant education and training, and labor force transfer.