Better late than never: The impact of hukou conversion experience on employment quality with urban residents in China

Individual employment quality has been a key topic of concern for both government department and academia in recent years, but there are few studies that account for hukou conversion from rural to urban environments. Based on the China Family Panel Survey (CFPS) 2014–2020 data, this paper uses an entropy weight method to comprehensively evaluate employment quality, and then uses a panel econometric model to examine the impact, heterogeneity and mechanism of the experience with household registration converted from rural hukou to urban hukou (RTUE) on the employment quality of urban residents in China. For clarity, urban residents include migrant workers (rural hukou working in urban area), phoenix urban residents (urban hukou with RTUE), and urban indigenous residents (urban hukou without RTUE). The study found that: (1) RTUE has a positive impact on the employment quality of phoenix urban residents, when compared to migrant workers, but has an insignificant impact when compared to urban indigenous residents. (2) In the subdimension of employment quality, compared with migrant workers, phoenix urban residents have lower wages and labor intensity, and higher labor contract signing rates and insurance participation rates; compared with urban indigenous residents, phoenix urban residents have lower wages and insurance participation rate, but higher job satisfaction. (3) Heterogeneity analysis found that the advantage of phoenix urban residents in employment quality compared to migrant workers is most prominent in male, rich work experience, working in low-tech industries, working in economically underdeveloped areas and “local RTUE” groups, and the disadvantage of which compared to urban indigenous residents is most prominent in economically developed regions and among non-local RTU group. (4) Mechanism research found that compared with migrant workers, RTUE improves the employment quality of phoenix urban residents by enhancing their social capital and non-cognitive abilities, rather than their cognitive abilities.