Series on Chinese Economics Research *
(ISSN: 2251-1644)
Series Editor: Fan Gang (Peking University, China)
Published:
Vol. 20: China’s Rural Labor Migration and Its Economic Development by Liu Xiaoguang
Vol. 19: Environmental Economics Research and China's Green Development Strategy by Zhang Youguo translated by Xu Hao, Xie Linlin
Vol. 18: The Transformation of China’s Economic Development: Perspectives of Sino–US Economists by Yang Wandong, Zhang Jianjun, Huang Shudong and Zhu Andong
Vol. 17: Income Distribution and China’s Economic “New Normal” by Wan Haiyuan and Li Shi
Vol. 16: Research on Efficiency and Fairness of Resources Allocation by China’s Governmental Administration by Sheng Hong and Qian Pu
Vol. 15: Industrial Overcapacity and Duplicate Construction in China: Reasons and Solutions by Li Ping, Jiang Feitao and Cao Jianhai
Vol. 14: Reforging the Central Bank: The Top-Level Design of the Chinese Financial System in the New Normal by Deng Haiqing and Chen Xi
Vol. 13: Social Integration of Rural-Urban Migrants in China: Current Status, Determinants and Consequences by Yue Zhongshan, Li Shuzhuo and Marcus W Feldman
Vol. 12: Game: The Segmentation, Implementation and Protection of Land Rights in China by Zhang Shuguang
*For the complete list of volumes in this series, please visit www.worldscientific.com/series/scer
Series on Chinese Economics Research – Vol. 20
China’s Rural Labor Migration and Its Economic Development
LIU Xiaoguang
Renmin University of China, China
Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Liu, Xiaoguang (Associate professor), author.
Title: China’s rural labor migration and its economic development / Liu Xiaoguang, Renmin University of China, China.
Description: Hackensack, NJ : World Scientific, [2020] | Series: Series on Chinese economics research, 2251-1644 ; vol. 20 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019057616 | ISBN 9789811208584 (hardcover) | ISBN 9789811208591 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Labor market--China. | Migrant labor--China. | Rural-urban migration--China. | Economic development--China.
Classification: LCC HD5830.A6 L5865 2020 | DDC 331.5/440951--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019057616
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Sponsored by B&R Book Program
Originally published in Chinese by China Social Sciences Press
Copyright © China Social Sciences Press, 2017
Copyright © World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte Ltd 2020
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Foreword
In less than 40 years of reform and opening-up, China’s economy has changed dramatically, with more than a 200-fold increase in the nominal GDP and even more than a 30-fold increase in the real GDP after the exception of the price factor. Throughout the history of mankind, China’s economy has grown at an unprecedented rate, eclipsing numerous ingenious growth theories. In 2016, China became the world’s second largest economy with a GDP of nearly RMB 75 trillion, but its growth rate still ranked first in the world, making a great impression on many economists.
In the miracle of China’s economic growth, the great changes on the labor market undoubtedly play a vital role. Compared with the previous vigorous market-oriented reform of state-owned enterprise (SOE) employees, China’s agricultural labor force has a larger scale of transfer, a longer duration and a more far-reaching impact, but it has not been duly valued and studied. In 2016, the total number of migrant workers exceeded 280 million, accounting for 36.3% of the total number of the population with employment and 68.1% of the urban population with employment in China. It is really a “very large but special” group. To a large extent, it can be said that the academic community has just a relatively superficial understanding of the role of the group in China’s economic development, and knows little about the social benefits that the group enjoys in cities. More importantly, much of the academic research assumes or believes, to varying degrees, that they just provide an element of cheap labor for the industrial development of urban sectors. Such wrong recognition is especially prevalent in reality. Even faced with the continuous slowdown in the transfer of agricultural labor in recent years, many cities are still reluctant to make the basic benefits of citizens that the group deserves accessible to the group. One of the reasons is no doubt the serious underestimation of the group’s role in and contribution to urban development, regardless of any considerations.
This book aims to clarify the role of the transfer of agricultural labor in China’s economic development rather than the labor element provided to the urban sectors. The continuous large-scale transfer of agricultural labor to cities changes the fundamental characteristics of China’s labor market, profoundly affects China’s investments, savings, technological progress and economic cycle fluctuation, and more importantly, plays an important and special role in the rapid development of non-agricultural industries. To illustrate it, this book first systematically presents the three most important characteristics