Spatio-Temporal Impact of Rural Livelihood Capital on Labor Migration in Panxi, Southwestern Mountainous Region of China

Abstract

Labor migration to urban centers is a common phenomenon in the Panxi region of the southwestern mountainous region of China, mainly owing to inadequate livelihood capital in rural areas. Numerous studies have been conducted to explore the relationship between labor migration and its causes, such as individual and family characteristics, but few studies have focused on livelihood capital. This paper examines the impact factors on labor migration employment location selection and duration from a household livelihood capital perspective. A case study of 279 households from 10 villages in the area was carried out in February 2016. We used both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the data. On the basis of the 279 questionnaires, the proportion of households with non-labor migration is 48.4%, whereas households with labor migration within a local city and migration across regions account for 28.7% and 22.9%, respectively. Social, financial, and human capitals are the primary factors that influence migrants' employment location choice positively. Among them, social capital has a significant impact on both migration within a local city and across regions; each of the regression coefficients is 1.111 and 1.183. Social, human, and financial capitals also have a positive impact on the duration of labor migration, and similarly, social capital is the highest coefficient with 2.489. However, physical capital only partly impacts labor migration across regions, whereas the impact of labor migration within a local city, and the duration, are not significant. Furthermore, the impact of household natural capital on migration space and time are all negative relationships, especially for labor migration across the regions and duration, with coefficient scores of 4.836 and 3.450, respectively. That is to say, a laborer is inclined to migrate within a local city for a short term, or not migrate at all, if natural capital is abundant. Our analysis results show that household livelihood capital has a strong spatio-temporal impact on labor migration.

Sensitivity of Rural Households’ Livelihood Strategies to Livelihood Capital in Poor Mountainous Areas: An Empirical Analysis in the Upper Reaches of the Min River, China

“…According to the analysis of the sensitivity of livelihood strategies to livelihood capital, rural households' livelihood strategies had different sensitivities to various livelihood measurement indicators, which were consistent with the findings from other scholars [13,39,41,42]. Specifically, three indicators, namely, cash income, number of relatives and friends providing financial assistance, and number of civil servants, had marked positive effects on the livelihood strategy selection of non-agricultural dominant rural households and non-agricultural rural households, while five indicators, namely, average age of laborers, cultivated land area, garden plot area, number of livestock and poultry, and present value of production tools, had noticeable negative effects on the livelihood strategy selection of non-agricultural dominant rural households and non-agricultural rural households.…”

“…The weight value of each measurement indicator is determined and combined with the standardized indicator data to develop the weighted comprehensive model, which is used to calculate the indexes of the five types of livelihood capital of rural households and the total index of the livelihood capital of different types of rural households [39]. The details are shown in Equation 6.…”

The effects of China’s Grain for Green program on migration and remittance

“…However, since the GfG provided compensation to all migrants for setting aside their land, it directly addressed, at least partially, this potential constraint to migration. 2) Social capital and a social network outside the locality is very useful to find employment (Wan et al, 2018). This issue was outside this paper's scope, since this research only looked at the trends in the locality itself.…”

The Features of Rural Labor Transfer and Cultural Differences: Evidence from China’s Southwest Mountainous Areas

“…The same phenomenon often occurs in Xichang ( Figure 9); the initial transferred rural labor significantly increases the incomes of rural households to improve living standards, and increases agricultural investment. By purchasing agricultural machinery, increasing amounts of chemical fertilizer, and expansion of arable land, the remaining laborers' willingness to transfer is greatly reduced [11,17,24]. Although farming production has expanded, it does not necessarily require laborers who have transferred to urban areas to return to their hometown (occasionally), but more so it is mountainous rural surplus labor (e.g., Yi ethnic rural labor) ( Figure 9).…”

“…As classical theory has many limitations when considering small regions or mountainous areas, studies on the regional characteristics of rural labor transfer produce more realistic results. In addition, there are few studies that have combined macro statistical data and micro questionnaire data to comprehensively interpret the transfer trends and the mechanisms driving rural labor [8,11,16,17].…”