Study On The Willingness To Return Home Of Rural Migrant Workers In China

In recent years, China has experienced both the continuous growth of the number of rural migrant workers (RMW) and a "RMW shortage." This "paradox" has drawn attention to the return of RMW. Although much research concerning this topic has been conducted, most of that research used individuals as research subjects and left much to be desired. For example, the definition of "return" and related research paths need to be further clarified, and the determinants, and decision-making processes of the returning RMW should be further studied in order to fully grasp the characteristics of China’s RMW accurately and facilitate the development of theories regarding population migration.Employing both qualitative and quantitative approaches, this study focuses on the willingness to return home of RMW, specifically its status, causes, decision-making processes, and main determinants, to study the return phenomenon. Data for the qualitative study comes from the2006China General Social Survey (N=399) and a convenience sample of RMW (N=14) who were interviewed in a semi-structured fashion in2013.The main findings are:(1) migration of RMW in China can be divided into three main categories:settling in cities, keeping rural-urban migration, and returning home and the last one is the choice for many RMW.(2) The social context for rural labor workers in urban areas lacks both formal and informal social support, leading to the traditional rural community being more attractive for RMW principally for its social security and support functions. This indicates that China’s traditional rural communities and family are still the most important source of emotional and material support for RMW.(3) Rather than family members, most RMW are the personal decision-makers for their migration. However, this does not mean that their autonomous return decisions are done on an "individual standard." Rather, they use a "family standard," which means that the overall interests of family, family responsibilities, and obligations consciously become significant factors for RMW’s return decision-making.(4) The return willingness of Chinese RMW is affected by their personal characteristics, family characteristics, and social security. As to personal characteristics, their real income in urban areas is an important factor that influences their willingness to return. For family endowments, their family social capital significantly related the strength of the willingness while family economic capital are significantly related to its presence or absence; nevertheless, family human capital has no significant effect. Regarding social security, most concrete types of social security have no significant impact on the return willingness of RMW, except supplementary medical and basic pension insurance, which have a limited effect in reducing the willingness to return.To conclude, willingness to return home of China’s RMW is affected by their personal, familial and social factors, and family ethics and endowments have an essential influence on the decision-making process. The above findings support some migration theories, like the Push-pull Theory and Dual Economy Theory, while partially supports The New Economics of Labor Migration Theory (NELMT). The proposition of NELMT, that family is the main migration decision-making body of migrant workers, is meaningful for the study on labor migration in China. However, it is not completely applicable to China’s RMW. In view of the double effects of the return of RMW on urban and rural areas, the two sectors in China should develop specific coping strategies and reform programs by following the principle that "actions were adroitly guided according to circumstances to avoid the disadvantages and give full play to the advantages.