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The commuting rural labour forces revealed by mobile phone trace data

Author

Listed:
  • Xuesong Gao
  • Lun Liu
  • Jiexin Zhuang
  • Dinghua Ou
  • Qiquan Li
  • Ouping Deng
  • Jianqiang Li
  • Min Zeng

Abstract

Many rural labour forces are involved in non-farm employment and follow a non-traditional lifestyle in developing countries. Among the different types of new livelihoods, rural–urban commuting has received relatively scant research. To fill this gap, this study takes advantage of mobile phone trace data, which has been widely used in urban studies but less so in rural topics. From one week’s mobile phone trace data in the city of Chengdu, China, the study identifies the home and work locations of 819,047 members of the rural labour force and visualizes the home–work location pairs. The graphic shows that 7% of the rural labour force commute to urban areas to work almost every day. Although the number is not large in itself, it reveals a shifting livelihood and lifestyle in developing countries which is worthy of attention in rural policy-making.

Suggested Citation

  • Xuesong Gao & Lun Liu & Jiexin Zhuang & Dinghua Ou & Qiquan Li & Ouping Deng & Jianqiang Li & Min Zeng, 2019. "The commuting rural labour forces revealed by mobile phone trace data," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(8), pages 1611-1614, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:51:y:2019:i:8:p:1611-1614
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X18810874
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sharma, Ajay & Chandrasekhar, S., 2014. "Growth of the Urban Shadow, Spatial Distribution of Economic Activities, and Commuting by Workers in Rural and Urban India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 154-166.
    2. Thomas Reardon & Kostas Stamoulis & Prabhu Pingali, 2007. "Rural nonfarm employment in developing countries in an era of globalization," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 37(s1), pages 173-183, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Haoying Li & Jonas Østergaard Nielsen & Rui Chen, 2023. "Rural Entrepreneurship Development in Southwest China: A Spatiotemporal Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-22, March.
    2. Liu, Lun & Gao, Xuesong & Zhuang, Jiexin & Wu, Wen & Yang, Bo & Cheng, Wei & Xiao, Pengfei & Yao, Xingzhu & Deng, Ouping, 2020. "Evaluating the lifestyle impact of China’s rural housing land consolidation with locational big data: A study of Chengdu," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

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