![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
Abstract
The continued transfer of agricultural labor into the industrial sector is crucial to China's transformation into an industrial economy. We argue in this paper that rural industry offers an alternative to urban industry for employing agricultural labor from areas without off-farm employment opportunities. Characteristics of rural industry differ from their urban counterparts. These characteristics may serve to shape the growth in employment for incoming workers and provide opportunities for certain types of workers, and affect the impacts these workers have on the local economy.
In this paper we examine the features of China's rural-to-rural labor movement and the villages where these workers are employed. Using a nationally representative sample of 215 villages, we show that the growth in rural-to-rural labor movement between 1988 and 1995 has been much faster than in rural-to-urban movement or in local off-farm employment. The rapid growth in rural-to-rural commuting and migration has not negatively affected off-farm income earning opportunities for workers living in the receiving villages. Rural-to-rural labor movement also has many positive effects. Labor movement into rural villages provides opportunities for workers generally underrepresented in other parts of the off-farm labor market, allowing rural industry to maintain labor intensive practices, and promoting national economic integration.
