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China Information
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Migrants as Homo Economicus

Explaining the Emerging Phenomenon of a Shortage of Migrant Labor in China's Coastal Provinces

Sijun Shao

Department of Management, Monash University, Australia

Ingrid Nielsen

Department of Management, Monash University, Australia

Chris Nyland

Department of Management, Monash University, Australia

Russell Smyth

Department of Economics, Monash University, Australia

Mingqiong Zhang

Department of Management, Monash University, Australia

Cherrie Jiuhua Zhu

Department of Economics, Monash University, Australia

The problem of a shortage of migrant labor is a new development in China's coastal provinces. We discuss the reasons for this emerging phenomenon using a conceptual framework that extends the traditional Lewis dualistic labor market model to incorporate a migrant labor market. We emphasize that migrant labor shortage in China not only reflects a declining wage gap between what peasants receive and what migrants can earn in the cities, but also the institutional legacies of the planning era such as the hukou (household registration) system which discriminates against migrants vis-a-vis urban residents in terms of access to social insurance and other social services. We proceed to draw on a unique survey of migrants and urban residents collected in Jiangsu to show that migrants receive lower incomes, and they have poorer access to social insurance than those with an urban registration in China's cities. Our findings have important implications for the alleviation of the migrant labor shortage problem.

Key Words: labor market • migrant workers • rural-urban migration • labor shortage

China Information, Vol. 21, No. 1, 7-41 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0920203X07075079
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