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New Trends in Internal Migration in China: Profiles of the New‐generation Migrants
Author(s) -
Zhao Liqiu,
Liu Shouying,
Zhang Wei
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
china and world economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.815
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1749-124X
pISSN - 1671-2234
DOI - 10.1111/cwe.12227
Subject(s) - china , internal migration , work (physics) , migrant workers , first generation , rural area , economic geography , service (business) , tertiary sector of the economy , demographic economics , economic growth , geography , business , political science , economics , developing country , population , sociology , demography , mechanical engineering , archaeology , law , engineering , marketing
Three decades since the first wave of rural–urban migration, the new generation of migrant workers has become the main force of internal migration in China. The present paper comprehensively explores the profiles of the new generation of migrant workers in urban China. We find that the “new generation” migrants are more educated and skilled, and are likely to work in manufacturing and service industries than in the construction industry. Moreover, they tend to allocate more time to non‐farm activities and have more months away from home per year in urban areas. In contrast to their predecessors, they tend to migrate to urban areas with their spouses, consume more in urban areas and send less money back home. Our findings suggest that the differences in features between the new generation of rural migrants and urban residents have become smaller and the integration of rural migrants into urban China has taken place gradually.