Do neighbourhoods have effects on wages? A study of migrant workers in urban China

Abstract

Rural-to-urban migrant workers have contributed enormously to the Chinese economy and society in the past three decades. Many of them have concentrated in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and physically and socially suffered from poor residential environment. However it is unclear how the neighbourhoods-as the provision of shelter, social and public service, and community organizing-influence migrant workers' labour market outcomes. To fill this gap, this paper researches the way in which urban neighbourhoods have affected migrant workers' wages. Factors such as housing quality, social interaction and trust, and neighbourhood organization and participation were examined. Results show that five of eight neighbourhood characteristics had statistically significant effects on wages. Robustness tests were conducted to address endogeneity problems of self-selection and unobserved individual ability. Test results demonstrated that our main findings were generally robust, and thus the causality was solid. Abstract: Rural-to-urban migrant workers have contributed enormously to the Chinese economy and society in the past three decades. Many of them have concentrated in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and physically and socially suffered from poor residential environment. However it is unclear how the neighbourhoods-as the provision of shelter, social and public services, and community organizinginfluence migrant workers' labour market outcomes. To fill this gap, this paper explores the way in which urban neighbourhoods have affected migrant workers' wages. Factors such as housing quality, social interaction and trust, and neighbourhood organization and participation were examined. Results show that five of eight neighbourhood characteristics had statistically significant effects on wages. Robustness tests were conducted to address endogeneity problems of self-selection and unobserved individual ability. Test results demonstrated that our main findings were generally robust, and thus the causality was solid.

Restrained mobility in a high-accessible and migrant-rich area in downtown Beijing

“…Activities organized by residential committees can improve trust within the whole community, enhance community satisfaction, and extend community support resources. These functions can all be considered forms of social capital that could contribute to the social inclusion of migrants living in Dashilar [15,92]. Several interviewees told me that communities organized activities designed to bring migrants together, improve their understanding of each other, and alleviate misunderstandings between migrants and local residents:…”

“…Social ties in neighborhoods are important for information flow, facilitate one's identification as a part of the neighborhood, serve as social credentials, and help people to advocate for policies with local decision makers [13,14]. These functions of neighborhood social ties, especially those ties with local people beyond the ethnic enclave, could significantly increase immigrants' social capital [15], which is essential to enhance their trust in local transportation services, their spatial cognition, and their aspirations to move around more broadly [12]. From a policymaking perspective, extending the social ties of immigrants, particularly those with local people, is crucial to help them achieve social inclusion.…”

Labour Force Participation and Employment of Humanitarian Migrants: Evidence from the Building a New Life in Australia Longitudinal Data

“…The characteristics of neighbourhoods where migrants live have also be found to affect their labour market outcomes (Cheng & Wang 2013). Local socioeconomic conditions encountered by immigrants have long-term effects on labour market outcomes (Åslund & Rooth 2007).…”

State-sponsored and spontaneous urbanization in Fujian province of China, 1982–2010

“…The spontaneous track of urbanization plays an important role in linking urban and rural areas. It also creates problems of rural-urban integration and social cohesion (Chang, Wen, & Wang, 2011;Cheng & Wang, 2013;Du & Li, 2010). The perspective of dual-track urbanization has been used in the study of urbanization process in China and the Pearl River Delta region (Shen, 2006;Shen et al, 2002).…”