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Impact of Migrant Workers on Total Factor Productivity in Chinese Construction Industry

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Listed:
  • Gui Ye

    (School of Construction Management and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
    The International Research Center for Sustainable Built Environment, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China)

  • Yuhe Wang

    (School of Construction Management and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
    The International Research Center for Sustainable Built Environment, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China)

  • Yuxin Zhang

    (College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China)

  • Liming Wang

    (School of Civil Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Science & Technology, Baotou 014010, China)

  • Houli Xie

    (Chongqing Construction Technology Development Center, Chongqing 400015, China)

  • Yuan Fu

    (School of Construction Management and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China)

  • Jian Zuo

    (School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia)

Abstract

Total factor productivity (TFP) is of critical importance to the sustainable development of construction industry. This paper presents an analysis on the impact of migrant workers on TFP in Chinese construction sector. Interestingly, Solow Residual Approach is applied to conduct the analysis through comparing two scenarios, namely the scenario without considering migrant workers (Scenario A) and the scenario with including migrant workers (Scenario B). The data are collected from the China Statistical Yearbook on Construction and Chinese Annual Report on Migrant Workers for the period of 2008–2015. The results indicate that migrant workers have a significant impact on TFP, during the surveyed period they improved TFP by 10.42% in total and promoted the annual average TFP growth by 0.96%. Hence, it can be seen that the impact of migrant workers on TFP is very significant, whilst the main reason for such impact is believed to be the improvement of migrant workers’ quality obtained mainly throughout learning by doing.

Suggested Citation

  • Gui Ye & Yuhe Wang & Yuxin Zhang & Liming Wang & Houli Xie & Yuan Fu & Jian Zuo, 2019. "Impact of Migrant Workers on Total Factor Productivity in Chinese Construction Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:3:p:926-:d:205020
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    2. Wenyao Guo & Xianzhong Mu, 2022. "Identification of Cities in Underdeveloped Resource-Rich Areas and Its Sustainable Development: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-16, October.
    3. Chaoxun Ding & Ruidan Zhang, 2021. "The Measurement and Influencing Factors of Total Factor Productivity in the Chinese Rural Distribution Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-16, July.

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