A Study Of The Impact Of Non-farm Employment Stability On The Disposition Of Contracted Land By Farming Households

A large population and limited arable land resources have been one of the major constraints to China’s economic development and one of the main constraints to the slow development of China’s rural economy.The transfer of rural labor is an inevitable trend in the urbanization process,and the resulting non-farm employment will certainly have an impact on the production decision of contracted land.Theoretically,compared with traditional informal employment,stable nonfarm employment can provide farm households with more stable material security,basic separation from traditional agricultural production activities,bring about a significant loss of rural labor,and a change in the disposition of contracted land.However,studies in the literature at this stage have mainly focused on the effects of non-farm employment distance,mobility,and part-time employment on farm households’ disposal of contracted land.Few studies have been conducted to explore this issue.The analysis of the stability of non-farm employment and its influence on the choice of disposal methods of contracted land and its mechanism of action is important to reasonably guide the transfer of rural contracted land and promote high-quality agricultural development.Based on labor transfer theory,new migration economics theory,land property rights theory and farm household behavior theory,this paper analyzes the current situation of nonfarm employment and land transfer methods in the sample area based on 587 farm household data obtained from field research in Shaanxi Province in 2022,and explores the problems of land transfer in reality.Next,a Probit model is constructed to measure the influence of nonfarm employment stability on the choice of contracted land disposal method,and the instrumental variable method is used to address the endogeneity problem,and the empirical results are tested for robustness by replacing the model and replacing the variables.Then,we explore the mechanism of the influence of nonfarm employment stability on farm households’ contracted land disposal methods,test the mediating effect of urban integration and the moderating effect of socialized service purchase,and analyze the heterogeneous influence of nonfarm employment stability on farm households’ contracted land disposal methods under different conditions.The results of this paper show that:(1)the stability of nonfarm employment has a significant effect on the disposal mode of contracted land of farm households.The more stable nonfarm employment is,the more likely farmers are to transfer out of contracted land.The findings remain robust and reliable through the discussion of endogeneity by the instrumental variables approach and the robustness check by replacing the econometric model and core variables.(2)Urban integration plays a mediating role in the process of non-farm employment stability influencing farm households’ disposal of contracted land,and non-farm employment stability promotes farm households’ transfer of contracted land by increasing the level of urban integration.(3)Social services play a moderating role in the way non-farm employment stability affects the disposal of contracted land.The influence of non-farm employment stability on the disposition of contracted land by farming households is weakened by the regulation of socialized service purchase.(4)The results of heterogeneity analysis showed that non-farm employment stability had a significant positive effect on contracted land transfer for high part-time farmers,a significant negative effect on medium part-time farmers,and an insignificant effect on low part-time farmers;the flatter the contracted land type,the greater the positive effect on contracted land transfer;compared with small-scale and large-scale farmers,non-farm employment stability of medium-scale farmers had a significant positive effect on contracted land transfer.The more flat the land,the greater the positive effect on contracted land transfer.Based on the research findings and real-life problems,this paper puts forward the following policy recommendations: strengthen the rule of law to guarantee and regulate the labor contracts of enterprises;strengthen vocational skills training to enhance non-farm employment capacity;enhance urban integration capacity to promote contracted land transfer;improve the agricultural land transfer market to promote large-scale contracted land operation.