Kenneth Roberts

China's "tidal wave" of migrant labor: what can we learn from Mexican undocumented migration to the United States?

The purpose of this article is to place Chinese labor migration from agriculture within the context of the literature on labor mobility in developing countries by comparing it to undocumented Mexican migration to the United States. The similarities fall within three general areas: the migration process, the economic and social position of migrants at their destination, and the agrarian structure and process of agricultural development that has perpetuated circular migration. The last section of the article draws upon these similarities, as well as differences between the two countries, to generate predictions concerning the development of labor migration in China. A fifteen-car train arrived in Shanghai from the city of Fuyang in Anhui Province on February 14. On board were 2,850 laborers from outside the municipality, signaling the beginning of the spring labor influx. Of this group, most were between 20 and 30 years of age, and more than half had never left their home villages before. Most will stay in Shanghai, while others will head to Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Ningbo, and Changshou to seek work. The Shanghai Public Security Department already has prepared a number of vehicles to transport laborers to other places outside the city, and the Shanghai police have strengthened their forces to keep public order. (FBIS, 1994d)

The determinants of job choice by rural labor migrants in Shanghai

Abstract Based upon data collected in 1993 on 54,372 individuals in the Fifth Sampling Survey of the Floating Population of Shanghai, this paper examines the characteristics and occupations of 32,967 rural labor migrants, defined as those migrants whose previous occupation was in agriculture and who held an agricultural household registration. These migrants comprised approximately three-fifths of Shanghais floating population in 1993. The data support the conventional wisdom that labor migrants are most often young males who work in the “hard and dirty” jobs of construction and manual labor — jobs left vacant by Shanghais educated and aging registered population. But there also exists significant sorting of rural labor migrants among occupations and sectors (state, collective, township and village enterprises (TVEs), and private enterprises) by gender, age, marital status, education, and especially region of origin. Thus, it appears that these characteristics and village-based networks are important in channeling migrants into particular occupations and destinations, undermining the notion of a “blind” migration from rural areas to coastal cities during Chinas rapid economic transition.

Female Labor Migrants to Shanghai: Temporary 'Floaters' or Potential Settlers?

Using data on 54,373 migrants from the Fifth Sampling Survey of the Floating Population of Shanghai, this article isolates a group of 32,967 rural labor migrants who hold rural household registrations and whose previous occupations were in agriculture, and focuses on the women among them. The demographic and occupational characteristics of these 9,124 women are described, demonstrating that migration to Shanghai is a highly gendered process, with men and women working in different occupations and sectors. Moreover, important differences are found to exist between unmarried and married female rural labor migrants that indicate that the latter are probably accompanying and working with their migrant husbands. A significant proportion of female “social” migrants also exhibit characteristics that indicate that they are the spouses of male rural labor migrants, bringing to over one third the proportion of rural labor migrants to Shanghai who could be migrating as couples. These couples and their children may be the vanguard in a transition from temporary labor migration to settlement in Chinas large cities.

Fortune, Risk, and Remittances: An Application of Option Theory to Participation in Village-Based Migration Networks'

Fortune and Risk are contending conceptions of the role of chance in the universe. From Chance … there issues both “hazard” and “opportunity”… The conception of Fortune is founded on the possibility of exercising some measure of choice over the outcomes one will accept from Chance. Paul A. David, 1974 Altruism, insurance, and investment are three potential motives for migrant remittances that have been explored in the literature. The model developed in this paper posits an additional motive – that remittances are necessary for the migrant to participate in the employment networks that are based in the village, and thus are partially a payment for the option to change jobs within this network. The model is tested with data on Mexican migrants to the United States and finds support in that network strength and diversity increase remittances, whereas the insurance motive predicts stronger networks will decrease remittances.

The settlement of rural migrants in urban China – some of China's migrants are not ‘floating’ anymore

This paper considers economic models of migration in the context of current Chinese migration. We argue that using formally changing ones household registration (hukou) location is too narrow a definition of settlement for policy purposes. Instead we show that time in the city and co-residence with spouses and separately with children reveals systematic settlement behavior on the part of a subset of migrants. The empirical evidence offered is largely descriptive but shows that those migrants who were younger at the age of migration, who are currently married and self-employed spend more years in the city. Men who have been in the city longer and are self-employed are much more likely to be co-residing with their wife. Self-employment is also a predictor of co-residence with children for both mothers and fathers.

The Impact of Circular Migration on the Position of Married Women in Rural China

Abstract This study examines the impact of migration on womens positions in Chinese rural households. A number of studies have found that rural Chinese migrant women experience more autonomy and freedom in urban areas than they would at home. But do these experiences carry over into marriage when they return to rural areas? Using a survey of more than 3,000 married, rural women in Anhui and Sichuan provinces and controlling for potential endogeneity of migration and return, this paper explores four main categories of womens status: womens views on male/female relationships, womens roles in household decision making, womens relationships with their husbands, and womens views concerning parents and children. It concludes that for women from Anhui and Sichuan, migration has some statistically significant lasting effects on a womans position in the household, though the effects are not always positive, nor are they universal.

Patterns of Temporary Labor Migration of Rural Women from Anhui and Sichuan

Based upon recent data from a sample of over 3000 women from Anhui and Sichuan provinces this paper argues that the situation had radically changed by the end of 1990s. Single women still migrate and in growing numbers but the assumption that most female migrants today are young women who return to their villages to marry and bear children and then cease to migrate homogenizes a more complex reality. Single women from Anhui and Sichuan frequently engage in several migration episodes and married women are migrating both with and without their husbands or their children. Patterns of migration vary among regions and relate to the occupations of women at their destination which are normally gained through access to networks based in their place of origin. Many of these married women with and without their families are creating niches for themselves in sales and service occupations in urban destinations renting accommodation from local residents and even enrolling their children in school. These findings have significant implications for a deeper understanding of a number of issues including the establishment of effective protective mechanisms and services for women and their children in destination areas the effect of past and potential migration income and experience upon womens status in rural areas and (because it is women and their children who can transform a process of circular migration into one of permanent settlement) the pace and character of urbanization in China. (excerpt)

The Role of Children in the Migration Decisions of Rural Chinese Women

This paper investigates the role that children play in the migration decisions of Chinese women. The presence of children of various ages is hypothesized to affect the timing of migration, the length of migration, and the nature of migration in terms of who goes along. In addition, we also investigate whether the sex of the children affects migration decisions. Results indicate that whether ones husband ever migrated has a positive effect on migrating before childbirth. Return timing is strongly linked to the age of the child. Many mothers return to rural areas around the time that the child begins formal schooling. We also find that women who have given birth to a boy are significantly less likely to migrate after childbirth but more likely to take the boy with her if she does migrate.

The Floating Population of Shanghai in the Mid-1990s

The purpose of this paper is to profile the floating population of Chinas largest city, Shanghai, based upon one of the most representative data sets available, and to estimate the relative size and characteristics of the major groups of this migrant population. The data permit separation of rural labor migrants from other categories of the floating population such as students, tourists, relatives on social visits, and business people from outside Shanghai. From 61 to 78 percent of the floating population can be classified as rural labor migrants. Particular attention is given to the demographic and occupational characteristics of this stigmatized group, as well as to the factors influencing their duration of stay in the city.