Jianfa SHEN Department of Geography and Resource Management The Chinese University of Hong Kong A Study on the Migration of Agricultural Population in China

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 2Contents  Previous studies  Conceptual framework of hukou system and migration  Research methodology  The impact of hukou category on migration  Explaining the impact of hukou category on migration  Conclusion

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 3 Previous studies  In capitalist societies, segmented labour markets rely heavily on  stereotyping related to age, gender, ethnic origin, marital status, formal qualification (Gordon 1995)  Marginalized population groups such as migrants, women and ethnic minorities  are often subject to above institutional constraints (Wright and Ellis 2000; Gordon 1995)

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 4 Previous studies  Studies on migration in China have examined  The role of hukou system in migration process  Comparing urban natives, permanent migrants and temporary migrants  Temporary migrants are at the bottom of the hierarchy  Permanent migrants are the most competitive and privileged groups

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 5 Conceptual framework of hukou system and migration: four types of migrants

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 6 Conceptual framework of hukou system and migration  Previous studies focus on migration of temporary population  The migration of agricultural population is largely ignored  Research questions  What is the effect of hukou category on migration?  Is there any difference in the migration of agricultural and non-agricultural populations?  What cause hukou effects on migration?

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 7 Research methodology  A large micro data set from 2000 census.  sampling ratio of 0.095%.  Consists of 123,267 migrants  32,625 were inter-provincial migrants  36,706 were intra-provincial inter- county/district migrants  53,936 were intra county/district migrants  This paper focuses on inter-provincial migrants

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 8 Table 2 Basic data on inter-provincial migrants in China

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 9 Research methodology  Index of dissimilarity S ij in education level  M ik is % of migrants with k level of education in migrant group i  M jk is % of migrants with k level of education in migrant group j  0-25 no dissimilarity  slight dissimilarity  serious dissimilarity  very serious dissimilarity

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 10 Research methodology  Migration attributes considered  Gender  Male and female  Age  20 five-year age groups, 0-4 years …. 95+  Education level  illiterate/semi illiterate, primary school, lower secondary school, higher secondary/technical school, university+  Occupation  Managers and administrators  Professionals  Clerks  Sales and services workers  Peasants  Plant and machine operators  Others

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 11 Research methodology  Economic sector  agriculture  mining  manufacturing  utilities (including Power, gas and water supply; Geological surveying and water management)  building industry  general services (including Transport, communication and storage; Wholesale, retail and food services; Social and personal services)  finance and real estate (including Finance and insurance; Real estate)  professional services (including Health, sports and welfare; Education, arts and media; Research and technical services)  public services (including Government and social organization)  others

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 12 The impact of hukou category on migration

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 13 The impact of hukou category on migration

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 14 The impact of hukou category on migration  Difference in education level of migrants  Serious dissimilarity between agricultural and non-agricultural populations  over 54% of agricultural population only have lower secondary education  over 60% of non-agricultural population have higher secondary/technical school education+  Similar gap among temporary migrants  The gap is the largest among permanent migrants As permanent migrants have lower educational level than temporary migrants among agricultural population Permanent migrants have higher educational level than temporary migrants among non- agricultural population

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 15 The impact of hukou category on migration

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 16 The impact of hukou category on migration  The impact on occupation  slight dissimilarity between migrants of agricultural and non-agricultural populations  agricultural population 66.19% are plant and machine operators 18.96% are sales and services workers  non-agricultural population 32.49% are plant and machine operators 20.44% are professionals 4.91% are managers and administrators

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 17 The impact of hukou category on migration  The impact on occupation  slight dissimilarity between temporary migrants of agricultural and non- agricultural populations  Agricultural population has a high proportion of plant and machine operators  Non-agricultural population has a high proportion of professionals managers and administrators

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 18 The impact of hukou category on migration  The impact on occupation  serious dissimilarity between permanent migrants of agricultural and non- agricultural populations  76.20% of agricultural population are peasants  37.73% of non-agricultural population are professionals

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 19 The impact of hukou category on migration

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 20 The impact of hukou category on migration

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 21 The impact of hukou category on migration  The impact on economic sectors  slight dissimilarity between migrants of agricultural and non-agricultural populations  56.54% of agricultural population engage in manufacturing sector  Only 34.16% of non-agricultural population engage in manufacturing sector but 35.03% engage in general services 9.34% in professional services 3.96% in public services

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 22 The impact of hukou category on migration  The impact on economic sectors  slight dissimilarity between temporary migrants of agricultural and non- agricultural populations  Both of them mainly engage in manufacturing and general services agricultural population has a higher proportion in manufacturing (59.78%) non-agricultural population has a higher proportion in general services (37.92%)

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 23 The impact of hukou category on migration  The impact on economic sectors  severe dissimilarity between permanent migrants of agricultural and non- agricultural populations  agricultural population mainly engage in agriculture (76.27%)  non-agricultural population has higher proportions in professional services (20.39%) and public services (10.47%) than any other migrant groups

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 24 Explaining the impact of hukou category on migration  The difference in migration lies in different migration context  stipulated by hukou category and hukou status  Permanent migration is possible for migrants moving  between rural areas (involving hukou category of agricultural population)  between urban areas (involving hukou category of non-agricultural population)  But permanent migration is still restricted  from rural to urban areas  from small cities to some large cities  Temporary migration is possible

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 25 The impact of hukou category on migration

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 26 Explaining the impact of hukou category on migration  Four different migration flows  temporary migrants mainly move to serve as manual labour or do business  permanent migrants  agricultural population mainly moves for marriage  non-agricultural population mainly moves for education or training  non-agricultural population also moves for job transfer

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 27 Explaining the impact of hukou category on migration  The different migration outcome of agricultural and non-agricultural populations is  partly caused by the difference in their education level  There is serious dissimilarity in education level between agricultural and non-agricultural populations  Such gap exists among temporary migrants  The gap is the largest among permanent migrants

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 28 The impact of hukou category on migration  Implicit impact of hukou category on migrants ’ occupation if the education level is controlled  At education level below university  No dissimilarity between agricultural and non-agricultural populations  This is true for temporary migrants  But severe dissimilarity between permanent migrants of agricultural and non-agricultural populations main occupation of agricultural population is peasants (71.25%) main occupations of non-agricultural population are plant and machine operators (42.68%), and sales and services workers (26.75%)

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 29 The impact of hukou category on migration

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 30 The impact of hukou category on migration  For migrants with university education and above  There is slight dissimilarity in occupation between agricultural and non-agricultural populations  True for both permanent and temporary migrants  main occupations for agricultural population are  plant and machine operators (39.81%)  professionals (22.22%)  a much higher proportion of non-agricultural population work as  professionals (48.17%)  clerks (18.11%)  managers and administrators (9.37%)

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 31 The impact of hukou category on migration

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 32Conclusions  Migrants of agricultural and non-agricultural populations are similar in age and gender  There is difference in age among permanent migrants  There is difference in education, occupation and economic sector between agricultural and non-agricultural populations  Agricultural population has low education level  Mainly engage in manufacturing as plant and machine operators (temporary) and in agriculture as peasants (permanent)  Non-agricultural population  More engage in general services, professional services and public services  As professionals, managers and administrators

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 33Conclusions  The difference between the migration of agricultural and non-agricultural populations is caused by  Difference in education level  Migration context (different migration reasons)  Implicit hukou effect especially those with university education and above

The 4th International Conference on Population Geographies July 2007 The Chinese University of Hong Kong Conference website

Prof. SHEN Jianfa, CUHK Geography 35 Thank You!