Welfare migration or migrant selection? Social insurance participation and rural migrants’ intentions to seek permanent urban settlement in China

The welfare system can be a crucial factor in the urban settlement of rural migrants, but its effects are difficult to determine because to do so one must distinguish the effect of welfare entitlement from the effect of ‘migrant selectivity bias’, which widely exists in cities in developing countries. Using survey data from 15 Chinese cities, this study examines the ways in which social insurance – the most critical social welfare package in China – affects rural migrants’ urban-settlement intentions. The results show that there is a ‘migrant selectivity bias’ in Chinese cities, that is, rural migrants who are better off socio-economically are more inclined to participate in social insurance and are more inclined to pursue permanent urban settlement. Meanwhile, social insurance participation is significantly and positively related to rural migrants’ urban-settlement intentions, and this positive relation remains even after we discount the effect of ‘migrant selectivity bias’ in the analysis. We argue that, for rural migrants in China, the effect of social insurance participation on urban settlement intentions closely resembles that experienced by those who move to migration-managed regimes. We conclude that the Chinese government should establish a more inclusive social welfare system to enable rural migrants to permanently settle in cities.

Selectivity profiles of recently arrived refugees and labour migrants in Germany

Migrant selectivity refers to the idea that immigrants differ in certain characteristics from individuals who stay behind in their country of origin. In this article, we describe the selectivity profiles of recent migrants to Germany with respect to educational attainment, age and sex. We illustrate how refugees differ from labour migrants, and we compare the profiles of Syrian refugees who successfully completed the long journey to Europe to Syrian refugees who settled in neighbouring Lebanon or Jordan. We rely on destination-country data from the IAB-BAMF-GSOEP Survey of Refugees, the Arab Barometer, and the German Microcensus, as well as on a broad range of origin-country data sources. Regarding sex selectivity, males dominate among refugees in Germany, while among economic migrants, sex distributions are more balanced. Relative to their societies of origin, labour migrants are younger than refugees. At the same time, both types of migrants are drawn from the younger segments of their origin populations. In terms of educational attainment, many refugees compare rather poorly with average Germans’ attainment, but well when compared to their origin populations. The educational profiles for labour migrants are mixed. Finally, Syrians who settle in Germany are younger, more likely to be male and relatively better educated than Syrians migrating to Jordan or Lebanon.

Are Immigrants Favorably Self-Selected? An Economic Analysis

One of the standard propositions in the migration literature is that migrants tend to be favorably “self-selected” for labor market success. That is, economic migrants are described as tending on average to be more able, ambitious, aggressive, entrepreneurial, or otherwise more favorably selected than similar individuals who choose to remain in their place of origin. Economic migrants are those who move from one place of work and residence to another, either within a country or across international boundaries, primarily because of their own economic opportunities. The favorable selectivity for labor market success of migrants would be less intense among those for whom other motives are important, such as tied-movers, refugees, and ideological migrants. In recent years there have been challenges to the general proposition of the favorable selectivity of migrants. This chapter considers alternative specifications of the migration model that are relevant for the issue of migrant selectivity.

Refugees from Dust and Shrinking Land: Tracking the Dust Bowl Migrants

We construct longitudinal data from U.S. census records to study the economics of the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s. Most of our findings contradict long-standing perceptions. While migration rates were high relative to elsewhere in the United States, they were similar to migration rates from the region in the 1920s. Relative to other occupations, farmers were the least likely to move. Furthermore, migrants from the Dust Bowl were not exceptionally likely to move to California. Finally, there was negligible migrant selectivity, and migration was not associated with long-lasting negative labor market outcomes; indeed, for farmers, the gains from migration were positive.

Educational Selectivity and Language Acquisition among Recently Arrived Immigrants

This article investigates destination language proficiency upon arrival and subsequent proficiency growth among recently arrived immigrants in Germany, Great Britain, and Ireland. We introduce selectivity considerations to a model of language acquisition, arguing that positively selected individuals should display higher levels of language skills upon arrival and faster growth in destination language proficiency thereafter. The results show that upon arrival, positively selected immigrants are less proficient, holding absolute levels of educational attainment constant. In terms of language proficiency growth, however, our longitudinal findings suggest that positively selected immigrants, net of differences in pre-migration investments, post-migration exposure, and incentives, acquire the destination language faster. The findings add to a growing body of literature demonstrating the benefits of using novel measurement approaches to migrant selectivity.

Educational Selectivity of Migrants and Current School Enrollment of Children Left behind: Analyses in Three African Countries

Migration of household members is often undertaken to improve the well-being of individuals remaining in the household. Despite this, research has demonstrated inconsistent associations between migration and children’s well-being across sending areas and types of migration. To understand the degree to which different types of migration and migrants are associated with schooling, we analyze comparable data across three African countries differing in prevalence, type, and selectivity of migration. Results suggest that recent migration is differentially associated with left-behind children’s school enrollment across settings. When analyses are restricted to migrant-sending households, however, migrant selectivity is positively associated with school enrollment.

Finding the American Dream Abroad? Narratives of Return Among 1.5 and Second Generation Vietnamese American Skilled Migrants in Vietnam

This essay, using multi-sited ethnographic methods, discusses the motivations for the en masse longer-term migration of 1.5 and second generation Vietnamese American professionals to their parents’ ancestral homeland during the 2000s. Social class dynamics, gender, racial, and national identity in the United States and migrant selectivity inform their decisions to migrate to the ancestral homeland for personal growth and to help develop the country. The interviewees’ framing of return experiences reflects the social ambivalence of returning as “in between” subjects in pursuit of a liberal capitalist American Dream abroad.