Critical Evaluation of the New Rural-Urban Labor Mobility in China: Reasons and Effect of Rural-Urban Labor Migration on Urban and Rural Labor Market

With the reforms of the Chinese economy, an enormous new moving population of rural-urban migrants is transforming the rural and urban labor force. Expected rural-urban income differences are used instead of absolute income diversity, namely the migrant is motivated by predictable income streams over time rather than by current earnings. Also, the employment opportunity is not exclusive determinant for rural-urban migration and some factors from both rural and urban sectors should be taken into account. The relationship between urban resident and rural migrant employment is consistent with the existence of continued labor market segmentation. It is also the increasing competition between the two groups. Meanwhile, many evidences indicate that there are two simultaneous phenomena which are surplus labor in rural areas and rising rural migrant wages in urban areas.