IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i7p2746-d1364351.html

More Rational, More Attractive: Industrial Structure Rationalization and Migrant Workers’ Employment Choices in China

Author

Listed:
  • Xinya Wang

    (School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

  • Yizhao Chen

    (School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

Abstract

Industrial structure rationalization could affect not only the employment structure but also the micro-employment choices of the labor force. Using the national individual-level survey data, we examine how regional industrial structure rationalization influences the employment status and location choices of migrant workers respectively using a probit model. The results show that industrial structure rationalization can significantly increase the probability that migrant workers choose regular and cross-provincial employment and reduce the probability of intra-provincial labor mobility, self-employment, and temporary employment. Higher employee welfare and income are the main mechanisms underlying the effect on migrant workers’ employment choices. Furthermore, the effects of industrial structure rationalization on the employment status and location choices of migrant workers differ according to gender, family size, and industry. These findings deepen the understanding of the relationship between industrial structure rationalization and labor migration and offer references for governments to promote regional sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Xinya Wang & Yizhao Chen, 2024. "More Rational, More Attractive: Industrial Structure Rationalization and Migrant Workers’ Employment Choices in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-18, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:7:p:2746-:d:1364351
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/7/2746/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/7/2746/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "The Race between Man and Machine: Implications of Technology for Growth, Factor Shares, and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(6), pages 1488-1542, June.
    2. Basakha, Mehdi & Hossein Mohaqeqi Kamal, Seyed, 2019. "Industrial development and social welfare: A case study of Iran," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Summers, Lawrence H & Pritchett, Lant H, 1993. "The Structural-Adjustment Debate," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 383-389, May.
    4. Xing, Chunbing & Zhang, Junfu, 2017. "The preference for larger cities in China: Evidence from rural-urban migrants," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 72-90.
    5. Yuxia Wang & Xia Li & Xin Yao & Shuang Li & Yu Liu, 2022. "Intercity Population Migration Conditioned by City Industry Structures," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 112(5), pages 1441-1460, June.
    6. Farré, Lídia & Fasani, Francesco, 2013. "Media exposure and internal migration — Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 48-61.
    7. L. Rachel Ngai & Christopher A. Pissarides, 2007. "Structural Change in a Multisector Model of Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 429-443, March.
    8. Jorge De La Roca & Diego Puga, 2017. "Learning by Working in Big Cities," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(1), pages 106-142.
    9. Qing Wang & Wenjing Xu & Yanghua Huang & Jidong Yang, 2022. "The Effect of Fast Internet on Employment: Evidence from a Large Broadband Expansion Program in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(3), pages 100-134, May.
    10. Su, Chi-Wei & Yuan, Xi & Umar, Muhammad & Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona, 2022. "Does technological innovation bring destruction or creation to the labor market?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    11. Timmer, Marcel P. & Szirmai, Adam, 2000. "Productivity growth in Asian manufacturing: the structural bonus hypothesis examined," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 371-392, December.
    12. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Démurger, Sylvie & Li, Shi & Wang, Jianguo, 2020. "Unequal migration and urbanisation gains in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    13. Wu, Bangzheng & Yang, Weiguo, 2022. "Empirical test of the impact of the digital economy on China's employment structure," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    14. Zhao, Jingfeng & Tang, Jianmin, 2018. "Industrial structure change and economic growth: A China-Russia comparison," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 219-233.
    15. Joshua Drucker, 2015. "An Evaluation of Competitive Industrial Structure and Regional Manufacturing Employment Change," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(9), pages 1481-1496, September.
    16. Acemoglu, Daron & Autor, David, 2011. "Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 12, pages 1043-1171, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yang Liu & Yanlin Yang & Huihui Li & Kaiyang Zhong, 2022. "Digital Economy Development, Industrial Structure Upgrading and Green Total Factor Productivity: Empirical Evidence from China’s Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Lerche, Adrian, 2022. "Investment Tax Credits and the Response of Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 15668, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Cao, Qingfeng & Ni, Pengfei & Guo, Jing, 2025. "Broadband internet and income inequality among the floating population: Evidence from the “broadband China” strategy in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    4. Gallipoli, Giovanni & Makridis, Christos A., 2018. "Structural transformation and the rise of information technology," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 91-110.
    5. Koster, Hans R.A. & Ozgen, Ceren, 2021. "Cities and tasks," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    6. Jie Zhou, 2024. "The Impact of the Digital Economy on Employment Scale in the Yangtze River Delta Region," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 14(5), pages 1-5.
    7. Rodrigo Adão & Martin Beraja & Nitya Pandalai-Nayar, 2020. "Technological Transitions with Skill Heterogeneity Across Generations," NBER Working Papers 26625, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Dennis C. Hutschenreiter & Tommaso Santini & Eugenia Vella, 2022. "Automation and sectoral reallocation," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 335-362, May.
    9. Li, Zhiyuan & Lin, Yichun & Wan, Guanghua & Wu, Ruochen, 2025. "Participation in globalization and out of poverty: The opportunity provided by foreign investments," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    10. Zhang, Cheng & Weng, Xiyan, 2024. "Can broadband infrastructure construction promote equality of opportunity? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China☆," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    11. Daniele Angelini, 2023. "Aging Population and Technology Adoption," Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz 2023-01, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
    12. Kudoh, Noritaka & Miyamoto, Hiroaki, 2025. "Robots, AI, and unemployment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    13. Fabian Stephany & Ole Teutloff, 2022. "What is the Price of a Skill? The Value of Complementarity," Papers 2210.01535, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    14. Lai, Tat-Kei & Wang, Luhang, 2024. "Spatial disparity of skill premium in China: The role of financial intermediation development," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    15. Zhipeng Gao & Zhenyu Wang & Mi Zhou, 2023. "Is China’s Urbanization Inclusive?—Comparative Research Based on Machine Learning Algorithms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-16, February.
    16. Bárány, Zsófia L. & Siegel, Christian, 2020. "Biased technological change and employment reallocation," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    17. Maximiliano Dvorkin & Alexander Monge-Naranjo, 2019. "Occupation Mobility, Human Capital and the Aggregate Consequences of Task-Biased Innovations," Working Papers 2019-064, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    18. World Bank, 2020. "Serbia’s New Growth Agenda," World Bank Publications - Reports 33566, The World Bank Group.
    19. Gries, Thomas & Naudé, Wim, 2020. "Artificial Intelligence, Income Distribution and Economic Growth," IZA Discussion Papers 13606, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. David Kunst, 2019. "Deskilling among Manufacturing Production Workers," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 19-050/VI, Tinbergen Institute, revised 30 Dec 2020.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:7:p:2746-:d:1364351. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.