scholarly journals Sustaining Regional Advantages in Manufacturing: Skill Accumulation of Rural–Urban Migrant Workers in the Coastal Area of China

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huasheng Zhu ◽  
Junwei Feng ◽  
Maojun Wang ◽  
Fan Xu
Author(s):  
Huasheng Zhu ◽  
Junwei Feng ◽  
Maojun Wang ◽  
Fan Xu

Extant research pays little attention to migrant workers’ skill accumulation/upgrading from the perspective of the labor supply. This paper takes China as an example to explore the factors influencing skill accumulation of rural-urban migrant workers (RUMWs), with a purpose to discover how to sustain or reshape regional competitive advantage through improving RUMWs’ skill accumulation. Structured questionnaire surveys were adopted for data collection in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province and Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province located in the Yangtze River Delta in the east of China. 900 questionnaires were issued and 491 effective questionnaires were recovered totally. This paper takes a perspective of global production networks, and gets a broad viewpoint containing intra-firm coordination, inter-firm partnership and extra-firm bargaining with non-firm actors, beyond what the extant literature on laborers’ human capital focuses on. The finding indicates that firms’ skill-oriented preference, which concerns about employees’ skills and innovation ability and stimulates them to learn initiatively, have a significant influence on RUMWs’ skill accumulation. In terms of collective efficiency based on co-competitive relationship between local firms, the more intensive interactions are, the more opportunities of skill accumulation RUMWs get. The accessibility of local institutions and favorable policies benefit RUMWs’ skill accumulation. Besides, the place itself, as a synthesized space of labor-management relations inside a firm and inter-organization relations, exerts an influence on and cause the regional differences in RUMWs’ skill accumulation.


ILR Review ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 001979392110044
Author(s):  
Alison Booth ◽  
Richard Freeman ◽  
Xin Meng ◽  
Jilu Zhang

Using a panel survey, the authors investigate how the welfare of rural-urban migrant workers in China is affected by trade union presence at the workplace. Controlling for individual fixed effects, they find the following. Relative to workers from workplaces without union presence or with inactive unions, both union-covered non-members and union members in workplaces with active unions earn higher monthly income, are more likely to have a written contract, be covered by social insurances, receive fringe benefits, express work-related grievances through official channels, feel more satisfied with their lives, and are less likely to have mental health problems.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Li ◽  
Jian Zhang

Abstract Background: In recent years, the widening gap of health service utilization between different groups in mainland China has become an important issue that cannot be avoided. Yet the related study on the health services utilization for older rural-to-urban migrant workers and comparative study on older rural-to-urban migrants in China is still in its infancy. Our study explored the health service utilization of the older rural-to-urban migrant workers based on a sinicization of the latest Andersen model, by comparison with the older rural dwellers. Further, our study revealed the facets and causes by decomposing the differences in the health service utilization into determinants.Methods: The data of China Labor-Force Dynamic Survey in 2016, the data of Urban Statistical Yearbook in 2016, and Statistical Bulletin were used. Our study applied the lasted Andersen Model according to China's currency situation. Before we studied the health service utilization, we used Coarsened Exact Matching to control the confounding factors to enhance the comparability of the two groups. The matched data were used to analyze the influencing factors. Fairlie decomposition method was used to analyze the differences and the sources of health service utilization between older rural-to-urban migrant workers and their rural counterparts.Results: After matching, the probability of two weeks outpatient of older rural-to-urban migrant workers (5.59%) was significantly lower than older rural dwellers (7.57%). The probability of inpatient of older rural migrant workers (5.59%) was significantly lower than older rural dwellers (9.07%). 17.98% of the total difference of two weeks outpatient utilization was due to the observed influence factors. 71.88% of the total difference of inpatient utilization was due to the observed influence factors. Income quantiles (49.57%), self-assessed health (80.91%), and sex ratio in the community (-102.29%) were significant in the differences of inpatient utilization.Conclusions: The findings have important implications for the difference in the health services utilization between older rural-to-urban migrant workers and older rural residents in China, urging the government to take full account of the heterogeneity. The results provide references for the healthcare policy reform in the process of active ageing in China.


2021 ◽  
pp. 357-368
Author(s):  
Bao-Liang Zhong ◽  
Helen Fung-Kum Chiu

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Yang ◽  
Dan Li ◽  
Jianmin Gao ◽  
Xiaojuan Zhou ◽  
Fuzhen Li

Abstract Background There has been an increase in older rural-to-urban migrant workers (aged 50 and above) in mainland China, little known about their depressive symptoms. The aim of this study was to identify depressive symptoms among older rural-to-urban migrant workers, as well as explored the factors leading to differences in depressive symptoms between older rural-to-urban migrant workers and their rural counterparts (older rural dwellers) and urban counterparts (older urban residents) in mainland China. The results provided a comprehensive understanding of the depressive symptoms of older rural-to-urban migrant workers, and had great significance for improving the depressive symptoms for this vulnerable group. Methods Data were derived from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) conducted in 2015, and coarsened exact matching (CEM) method was employed to control confounding factors. This study employed a Chinese version 10-item short form of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D 10) to measure depressive symptoms, and used the Social-Ecological Model as a framework to explore influential factors related to depressive symptoms. Specifically, the approach of Fairlie’s decomposition was used to parse out differences into observed and unobserved components. Results After matching, our findings indicated that the prevalence of depressive symptoms in older rural-to-urban migrant workers was lower than older rural dwellers; and the prevalence of depressive symptoms in older rural-to-urban migrant workers was higher than older urban residents. Fairlie’s decomposition analysis indicated that type of in-house shower, sleeping time at night and ill in the last month were proved to be major contributors to the differences in depressive symptoms between older rural-to-urban migrant workers and older rural dwellers; self-reported health and sleeping time at night were proved to be major contributors to the differences in depressive symptoms between older rural-to-urban migrant workers and older urban residents. Conclusions Differences in depressive symptoms between older rural-to-urban migrant workers and their rural and urban counterparts did exist. Our findings contributed to a more reliable understanding in depressive symptoms among older rural-to-urban migrant workers. Our findings would be of referential significance for improving older rural-to-urban migrant workers’ depressive symptoms.


2017 ◽  
Vol 116 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua Yang ◽  
Jian Gao ◽  
Tianhao Wang ◽  
Lihong Yang ◽  
Yao Liu ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S55-S63
Author(s):  
Zan Li ◽  
Junming Dai ◽  
Ning Wu ◽  
Junling Gao ◽  
Hua Fu

Abstract Background Migrant workers worldwide commonly are susceptible to mental disorders. Since the 1980s, there has been a large-scale increase in the number of migrant workers in China; this development parallels the acceleration of socio-economic transformation. Studies addressing this population rarely focus on workers’ mental health or psychological well-being, yet it is imperative to understand the mental health status of rural-to-urban migrant workers and study the relationship between migration and mental health. Methods A cross-sectional survey of 3286 participants (response rate 85.4%) was conducted among different work units in Shanghai. All of the variables of this survey were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire, with depression measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale and poor mental health (PMH) measured by the World Health Organization 5-Item Well-Being Index (WHO-5) scale. Pearson’s χ2 test and logistic regression were used to compare migrants with urbanites, and to identify factors related to mental health outcomes. Results Migrant workers (15.3%) had a slightly higher prevalence of depression than non-migrant (12.0%) workers, with notable PMH (26.9%) among participants >45 y of age. In the logistic regression models, those who reported low job satisfaction, unhealthy organizations, poor physical health (self-rated) and long working hours were 2.86 (95% CI 2.14 to 3.84), 1.42 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.91), 1.89 (95% CI 1.41 to 2.55) and 1.48 (95% CI 1.08 to 2.03) times more likely to have depression, respectively. Similarly, workers >45 y of age were 2.92 (95% CI 1.65 to 5.16) and 1.80 (95% CI 1.01 to 3.21) times more likely to have PMH for low job satisfaction and unhealthy organizations, respectively. Conclusions There are numerous potential causes affecting the mental health of Chinese internal migrant workers. Strengthening the construction of healthy organizations and enhancing workers’ job satisfaction may improve the mental health status or psychological well-being of this group.


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