A Study On The Impact Of Labor Contracts On The Urban Integration Of Migrant Workers

The problem of migrant workers has prominent Chinese characteristics with a long history.According to the national bureau of statistics,China had 288 million migrant workers by the end of 2018.Whether migrant workers can finally integrate into cities is not only related to China's future economic development but also related to the construction of the urban-rural integration system.The dual urban and rural household registration system is an essential institutional factor hindering urban integration.Migrant workers suffer from discrimination in the urban labor market,such as employment opportunities,labor remuneration,social insurance,and public services.There is an enormous gap between migrant works and urban workers in terms of "equal pay for the same work" and "equal rights for the same work".The new labor contract law came into effect in 2008,which has played an essential role in protecting the rights and interests of the informal employment groups represented by migrant workers.Standardizing the signing of labor contracts for migrant workers and ensuring equal pay and equal rights for equal work can be regarded as an effective way to promote their urban integration.Given this,this paper investigates the urban integration problem of migrant workers from the perspective of the labor contract.It is helpful to enrich the research system of migrant workers' integration and provide empirical support and policy reference for promoting a new-type urbanization strategy.In terms of theoretical research,this paper firstly constructs a measurement system of migrant workers' urban integration from four dimensions: economic integration,social integration,psychological integration,and overall integration.Furthermore,this paper discusses the influence mechanism of labor contract on migrant workers' urban integration from the perspectives of economic status and household registration discrimination.It is found that the signing of labor contracts improves the employment quality and social insurance participation rate,provides "quasi-citizen welfare" for migrant workers,strengthens the protection of their rights and interests,weakens the household registration discrimination and regional discrimination,and promotes their urban integration.In terms of empirical research,using the panel data of the Chinese labor-force Dynamic Survey,this paper constructs fixed models to analyze the influence of labor contracts on migrant workers' urban integration.Furthermore,this paper uses the tool variables and two-stage least squares method(2SLS)to solve the endogenous problem.Also,the robustness of the estimated results is tested through propensity score matching(PSM)and substitution variables.At the same time,the panel data fixed effect model is further constructed to empirically test the intermediary role of employment quality and social insurance participation in promoting migrant workers' urban integration.Based on the results of theoretical analysis and empirical tests,this paper draws the following conclusions.Firstly,the overall urban integration of migrant workers is relatively weak,especially psychological integration.The economic integration degree of the new generation of migrant workers is better than that of the old generation,but the old generation shows a higher degree of social integration and psychological integration.Secondly,compared with those who have not signed labor contracts,the signing of labor contracts has a significant promotion effect on the urban integration of migrant workers in all dimensions.Moreover,the longer the term of labor contracts is,the more favorable it is to promote urban integration.This conclusion is still valid after controlling the sample self-selection bias and endogenous problems.Thirdly,the signing of labor contracts improves the employment quality and stability of migrant workers,thus improving their economic and social status and laying an essential objective economic foundation for their urban integration.Fourthly,signing labor contracts increases various social insurance participation rates,provides the migrant workers "similar public welfare of urban residents," and reduces the household register discrimination and regional discrimination in the urban labor market.Finally,based on the above conclusions,this paper proposes that in order to promote the urban integration of migrant workers,the government should make sufficient efforts to improve the labor contract signing system,strengthen the construction of the social insurance system,and provide equal access to public services for migrant workers.