Alice Goldstein

The impact of migration on fertility: An ‘own children’ analysis for Thailand

Abstract Reflecting a growing concern with high rates of urban growth in less developed countries, increasing attention focuses on the fertility of migrants to such places. The present study explores the relations between fertility, migration, and urbanization, using ‘own children’ data from the 1970 Census of Thailand. Information on ‘own children’ less than one year old is used to approximate fertility levels in the year before the census, and that on ‘own children’ aged 1–4 fertility levels during the four preceding years. Since migration was defined as a move to current residence between 1965 and 1970, the statistics on ‘own children’ less than five years old allow scrutiny of fertility during the period immediately before and after migration. Controlling for a variety of socio-economic characteristics of currently married women aged 20–49, and using several analytical approaches, the current fertility of migrants was consistently found to be higher than their own earlier fertility and higher than tha...

Migration, fertility, and state policy in Hubei Province, China

Despite China s one-child family planning policy, the nation experienced a slight rise in the birth rate in the mid-1980s. Many observers attributed this rise to the heightened fertility of those rural-to-urban migrants who moved without a change in registration (temporary migrants), presumably to avoid the surveillance of family planning programs at origin and destination. Using a sequential logit analysis with life-history data from a 1988 survey of Hubei Province, we test this possibility by comparing nonmigrants, permanent migrants, and temporary migrants. While changing family planning policies have a strong impact on timing of first birth and on the likelihood of higher-order births, migrants generally do not have more children than nonmigrants. In fact, migration tends to lower the propensity to have a child. More specifically, the fertility of temporary migrants does not differ significantly from that of other women.

Temporary Migrants in Shanghai Households, 1984

In China, temporary migration is defined as a change in place of residence without a concomitant change in household registration; such mobility therefore encompasses a more heterogeneous set of movements than is usually subsumed under this heading in other nations. Because of China’s strict control of permanent migration to large cities, temporary migration has become an important strategy for adjusting to economic changes and to effecting family reunification. The Shanghai Temporary Migration Survey of 1984 focused on one segment of temporary migrants, the 58% living in the households of permanent residents. Multinomial logistic regression suggests the heightened probability that close relatives of the household heads come to Shanghai to visit or to live, and nonrelatives to work. Regression on current and expected duration shows that many intended to stay for a year or more, some for up to 20 years. Their presence in the city places added strains on infrastructure and raises questions about the continued efficacy of China’s migration policies.

Permanent and temporary migration differentials in China

Urban development and migration policies in China have greatly limited permanent migration to cities especially to bigger ones. In recent years however largely as a result of economic reforms temporary migration has become a major mechanism of population exchange. Data from the 1986 Survey of Migration in 74 Cities and Towns of China sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Science provide a unique opportunity to evaluate the volume and direction of temporary movement the reasons for it and the sociodemographic differences between temporary and permanent migrants living in Chinas cities and towns....Overall the findings indicate that temporary migration has come to complement and in some cases to substitute for permanent migration in allowing the Chinese population to cope with its rural labor surplus and to satisfy its strong desire for urban amenities. (EXCERPT)

China : the many facets of demographic change

Demographic And Economic Change The Many Facets of Change and Their Interrelations, 19501990 (Alice Goldstein.) Birth and Wealth in Peasant China: Surplus Population, Limited Supplies of Family Labor, and Economic Reform (Kyung-Sup Chang.) Patterns of Infant Mortality (Dudley L. Poston Jr.) Fertility Trends Fertility: From the 1970s to the 1990s (Gu Baochang.) Determinants of Fertility Decline in Shanghai: Development or Policy (Guo Shenyang.) A Decade of the One-child Policy: Achievements and Implications (Wang Feng.) Household And Family Structure Changing Family and Household Structure (Guo Zhigang, A. Goldstein, and Sidney Goldstein.) The Pace of Family Building in Modern China (Minja Kim Choe, Wu Jianming, Zhang Ruyao, and Guo Fei.) The Impact of Official Family Planning Programs on Transition to Motherhood: A Case Study of Shifang County (Wang Jichuan and Chen Jiajian.) Population Mobility Economic Reforms and Spatial Mobility (Yang Xiushi.) Migration Motivations and Outcomes: Permanent and Temporary Migrants Compared (A. Goldstein and S. Goldstein.).

Jews on the Move: Implications for Jewish Identity

Based on data from the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey the authors examine the high level of mobility among American Jews and their increasing dispersion throughout the United States and how this presents new challenges to the national Jewish community. (EXCERPT)

The challenge of an aging population. The case of the People's Republic of China.

Policymakers and demographers in China are cognizant of the implications of the one-child family policy for the eventual aging of their nations population and are beginning to incorporate attention to the elderly into the economic and population policies being developed. A major stumbling block to the acceptance of the one-child family policy, especially in rural areas, has been fear about security in old age. As the one-child family becomes widely established, it will become increasingly difficult for the only child to support two elderly parents.

Rural Industrialization and Migration in the People’s Republic of China

Rural industrialization and migration in China is discussed in terms of government policies which have had a direct impact on the course of development. There is a review of past patterns of industrialization and rural industrialization and state policies after 1976 which pertain to rural to urban migration and rural agricultural development. The case study of Hubei Province in central China is given to show a more indepth analysis of the impact of Chinas policies on the development of rural industry. 3 levels of towns are used in the assessment: Qu which are urban places and county seats; Xiang urban places with lesser administrative functions; and Cun which are rural places and often market centers. Data were obtained from the 1987 sample of small towns in northern Hubei Province and the 1988 sample survey of population for the entire province. Of the 330 towns in the sample 82.4% were Cun and 6.4% Qu with 52% of the population. 11.2% were Xiang towns. Qu towns are heavily nonagricultural with 65% of nonagricultural laborers compared to Cun towns with 21%. 67% in Qu towns are employed in nonagricultural labor and 36% of all workers in Cun towns. The policy which affects this distribution is one which allows workers but not their dependents to move into small urban places. Qu towns also attract a younger working population. The dependency ratio is inversely related to town status and Cun towns have the highest ratio of 114.2. Data from 1978 and 1984 also indicate the diversity of economic and social activity in all levels of towns. Qu towns have experienced high growth of shops which also occurred in Cun and Xiang towns and cultural institutions. There was a faster rate of growth of factories at the Xiang level. Factories/1000 population show Cun towns with the highest count versus factories/town where Qu towns have more factories than Xiang towns. Cun factories are much smaller in employee population (10% of Qu factory population of 102) than Qu factories. Output values reflect a similiar pattern with output value 75 times larger in Qu factories than in Cun. Aggregation by town type yields Qu towns with a higher output value from factories but output value from retail and wholesale firms in Cun towns approaches that of Qu towns and surpasses it in free markets. Qu towns play an important role in industrial production and Cun towns in commerce or the secondary or tertiary sectors. Mobility of the population is supplying the labor needs since a loosening of the migration policy; a large % in towns are born elsewhere. Inadequate arable land and employment opportunities affect migration. Migration selectivity occurs. There is a complex interaction of multiple factors in the modernization of rural areas.

Surveys of migration in developing countries: a methodological review.

Sample surveys have been used in many less developed countries to study migration. This review examines these studies--their purpose theoretical relevance scope research design sampling procedures definition of migration coverage of other forms of movement attention to determinants and consequences and policy relevance. The authors demonstrate the tremendous diversity of such surveys and describe the wide range of information they collect on how many people move who moves why they move where they move and how long they stay. But the frequent lack of comparability among studies on most of these dimensions helps to explain both the difficulties encountered in attempting to reach generalizations about the patterns and impact of population movement in the developing nations and the limited value of most of the surveys for policy formation. Nonetheless the variety of study designs can serve to provide a wide range of experiences on the basis of which more sophisticated approaches can be developed. (authors)

Temporary migration in Shanghai and Beijing

In a number of developing countries, temporary migration plays a key role in the labor market. In China, where permanent migration is carefully controlled, movement without an official change in household registration (temporary migration) is relatively unrestricted. It has increased dramatically since the economic reforms introduced in 1979. Using data from surveys in Shanghai and Beijing, this article focuses on the sociodemographic characteristics of temporary migrants in relation to their reasons for moving and the duration of their stay at destination. Many temporary migrants come to these cities in search of work; however, many others move for noneconomic reasons associated with family reunion and retirement. Moreover, the distinctive socioeconomic features of Shanghai and Beijing also influence the characteristics of temporary migrants and their reasons for coming to the cities.