The Hukou Converters-China's lesser known rural to urban migrants

Journal of Contemporary China

Volumn 23, Issue 88, 2014, Pages 657-679

  Quheng, Deng ^a   Gustafsson, Bjorn ^b,c  

^a CHINESE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES   (China)

^b UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG   (Sweden)

^c The Institute for the Study of Labour IZA   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EMPLOYMENT; HOUSEHOLD INCOME; HUMAN CAPITAL; LABOR MIGRATION; PROBABILITY; RURAL-URBAN MIGRATION; SOCIAL CAPITAL;

CHINA;

EID: 84901696059     PISSN: 10670564     EISSN: 14699400     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2013.861147     Document Type: Article

References (40)

1. Zhiqiang Liu, 'Institution and inequality: the hukou system in China', Journal of Comparative Economics 33, (2005), pp. 133-157.
2. Zhuoni Zhang and Donald Treiman, 'Social origins, hukou conversion, and the wellbeing of urban residents in contemporary China', Social Science Research 42, (2013), pp. 71-89.
3. This section builds on Qingwu Zhang, Hukou Dengji Changshi [Brief Introduction on Hukou Registration] (Beijing: Law Press, 1983), in Chinese
4. Tiejun Cheng and Mark Selden, 'The origins and social consequences of China's hukou system', China Quarterly 139, (1994), pp. 644-668
5. Yilong Lu, 'The hukou system in China since 1949: structure and change', Beijing Daxue Xuebao [Academic Journal of Peking University] 39, (2002), pp. 123-130, in Chinese
6. Peter Alexander and Anita Chan, 'Does China have an apartheid pass system?', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 30, (2004), pp. 609-629
7. Kam Wing Chan, 'The reform of the hukou system and rural-urban migration', China Labor Economics 1, (2004), pp. 108-123, in Chinese
8. Kam Wing Chan, 'The Chinese hukou system at 50', Eurasian Geography and Economics 50, (2009), pp. 197-221
9. Kam Wing Chan, 'Crossing the 50 percent population Rubicon: Can China urbanize to prosperity?', Eurasian Geography and Economics 53, (2012), pp. 63-86
10. Xiaogang Wu and Donald Treiman, 'The household registration system and social stratification in China: 1955-1996', Demography 41, (2004), pp. 363-384.
11. The classification is rather complex as hukou can be classified along both the urban-rural division (residence) and the non-agriculture-agriculture division (occupation) so one can distinguish between: (a) urban non-agriculture hukou; (b) rural non-agriculture hukou; (c) urban agriculture hukou; and (d) rural agriculture hukou. The cases of (b) and (c) are not very common, however. See Harry Wu, 'Rural to urban migration in the People's Republic of China', China Quarterly 139, (1994), pp. 669-698.
12. Martin King Whyte, One Country, Two Societies. Rural-Urban Inequality in Contemporary China (Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2010).
13. Donald Treiman, 'The "difference between heaven and earth": urban-rural disparities in well-being in China', Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 30, (2012), pp. 33-47.
14. Linda Wong and Huen Wai-Po, 'Reforming the household registration system: a preliminary glimpse of the Blue Chop household registration system in Shanghai and Shenzhen', International Migration Review 32, (1998), pp. 974-994.
15. Treiman shows that in 2008 this was particularly the case for the following amenities: refrigerator, automatic washing machine, air conditioner, microwave oven, personal computer, indoor toilet in household and access to piped gas. Treiman, 'The "difference between heaven and earth"', p. 43.
16. A temporary residence permit (zanzhuzheng) has been issued nationwide since 1985 to meet the needs of managing the increased temporary migration from the countryside. A Blue Chop hukou (lanyin hukou) was implemented in the late 1980s and was approved by the central government in 1992. Holders of a Blue Chop hukou enjoy some of the benefits of an urban hukou though the benefits vary greatly from place to place. In 1997, the State Council selected 450 pilot counties and towns where those holding an agricultural hukou could apply for an urban hukou after two years of residency if they had stable non-agricultural jobs or income flows, and legal and fixed housing.
17. Fang Cai, 'Hukou system reform and unification of rural-urban social welfare', China & World Economy 19, (2011), pp. 33-48.
18. According to a policy document, in January 2010 the Temporary Residential Permit for rural hukou holders was replaced by a Residential Permit. Holders of the latter, upon meeting certain conditions, are eligible to apply for a hukou that is not different from that of native residents from their host city. Unlike the previous Temporary Residential Permit, the new Residential Permit is applicable across the whole province. A similar reform came into effect in Shanghai on 23 February 2009. See Litao Zhao and Rong Fu, China's Hukou Reform: The Guangdong and Shanghai Cases, EAI Background Brief No. 551, (2010), available at: http://www.eai.nus.edu.sg/BB551.pdf (accessed 18 November 2012).
19. Shih-Jiunn Shi, 'Towards inclusive social citizenship? Rethinking China's social security in the trend towards urban-rural harmonisation', Journal of Social Policy 41, (2012), pp. 789-810.
20. In the beginning of 2012 the State Council issued new regulations to make hukou in small and medium-sized cities more flexible. This policy change did not apply to major cities. See 'Promoting the hukou system reform', People's Daily, (26 February 2012), available at: http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2012-02/24/nw.D110000renmrb_20120224_2-03.htm (accessed 18 November 2012).
21. In January 2004, Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan province, allowed rural-born people with fixed residence in the city to change their hukou status, although these people had no direct familial relationship with urban residents with a local urban hukou in Zhengzhou. This reform led to an onslaught of people changing hukou status. The resulting high pressure on the welfare system in the city (in areas such as education and subsidised public transportation) forced the Zhengzhou city government to terminate this hukou reform in August 2004. Meiyan Wang and Fang Cai, 'The process and prospect of reforms on the hukou system', Guangdong Social Sciences 6, (2008), pp. 19-26, in Chinese.
22. Shi Li, Chuliang Luo, Zhong Wei and Ximing Yue, 'Appendix-The 1995 and 2002 Household Surveys: sampling methods and data description', in Bjorn Gustafsson et al., eds, Inequality and Public Policy in China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp. 337-353.
23. We are aware of only one other estimate of the proportion of hukou converters residing in urban China: Xiaozhou Wang, R. S. Oropesa and Glenn Firebaugh, 'Permanent migrants to cities in China: hukou origin and earnings among men in an era of economic transformation', Migration and Development 2, (2013), pp. 37-56. These authors report based on China General Social Survey 2003 that 21.9% of male respondents residing in urban China previously had a rural hukou.
24. Research Division of State Council, 'General report on migrant workers', in Survey Report on Migrant Workers in China (Beijing: China Yanshi Press, 2006), p. 4, in Chinese.
25. 2 was 0.21.
26. Hong Yang, 'A comparative analysis of China's permanent and temporary migration during the reform period', International Journal of Social Economics 27, (2000), pp. 173-193.
27. The urban and rural populations account for 39.09% and 60.91%, respectively, of the entire population of China in 2002. See: National Bureau of Statistics of China, China Statistical Yearbook (Beijing: China Statistical Press, 2005). Our urban sample is overrepresented (51.19%) so we expand the rural sample through random sampling.
28. Zhang and Treiman report in their Table 1 that in 2007, 11% of the population with rural origins had converted from a rural to an urban hukou. Zhang and Treiman, 'Social origins, hukou conversion, and the wellbeing of urban residents in contemporary China', p. 76.
29. Years of schooling and CPC membership are introduced to reflect the difference in characteristics of hukou converters, migrants with a rural hukou and rural stayers. As is well known in the literature on international migration, differences in cohort quality across the different categories may contaminate our analysis. This issue deserves an analysis of its own, for example, by using cohort data constructed from repeated cross-section data. See: George Borjas, 'Assimilation, changes in cohort quality, and the earnings of immigrants', Journal of Labor Economics 3, (1985), pp. 463-489
30. George Borjas, 'Assimilation and changes in cohort quality revisited: what happened to immigrant earnings in the 1980s?', Journal of Labor Economics 13, (1995), pp. 201-245.
31. The parameter estimates are available from the authors on request.
32. Based on differences in measured income the estimates most probably do not capture the full benefits which also include better access to health care and education, for example.
33. Chan, 'The reform of the hukou system and rural-urban migration', pp. 108-123.
34. We have investigated whether this difference can be attributed to individual characteristics by estimating logistic models and found this not to be the case (estimates are available from the authors on request).
35. Junsen Zhang, Yaohui Zhao, Albert Park and Xiaoqing Song, 'Economic returns to schooling in urban China', Journal of Comparative Economics 33, (2005), pp. 730-752.
36. In a similar analysis for employed men based on China General Social Survey 2003 by Wang et al. ('Permanent migrants to cities in China', pp. 37-56), The authors also report positive coefficients for hukou converters. However, when the estimated model also includes variables measuring ownership sector and occupation, the t-statistics for the coefficient are low.
37. As mentioned above, it is well known that one single cross section of data (as here) is far from ideal for identifying earnings assimilation rates of immigrants.
38. Liu, 'Institution and inequality', pp. 133-157.
39. Timothy Hatton and Roy Bailey, 'Natives and migrants in the London labour market, 1929-1931', Journal of Population Economics 15, (2002), pp. 59-81.
40. This article investigated male workers born in rural Great Britain who migrated to London. Their earnings functions show a positive effect of being rural-born that is of the same magnitude as we have reported here for hukou converters. Another interesting comparison to make is how people from mainland China are faring in the labour market of Hong Kong. Liu et al. show a substantial earnings gap between immigrants from mainland China and natives, particularly for newly immigrated persons. However, occupational segregation becomes smaller as duration of residence rises and does not exist for immigrants who came to Hong Kong as young adults. Pak-Wai Liu, Junsen Zhang and Shu-Chuen Chong, 'Occupational segregation and wage differentials between natives and immigrants: evidence from Hong Kong', Journal of Development Economics 73, (2004), pp. 395-413.