Research On The Poverty Reduction Effect Of Rural Labor Mobility

Since the 1980s,a large number of rural labor force have left their homeland and migrated to more developed areas to seek livelihoods.The large-scale mobility of rural labor force in China is the product of the reform and opening-up,which is closely related to the process of industrialization and urbanization.Labor mobility plays an important role in the development of economy and society.Macroscopically,labor mobility conforms to the trend of industrialization and urbanization,promotes the modernization process;microscopically,labor mobility enriches peasant households' livelihood strategy,improves their income and drives poor peasant households to get rid of poverty and become rich.Under the background of poverty alleviation in rural areas,exploring the poverty reduction effect of labor mobility from a theoretical point of view is conducive to providing a basis for the formulation and improvement of poverty alleviation policies,and is also conducive to promoting the dialogue between the two research fields of labor mobility and poverty.Based on the framework of sustainable livelihood analysis constructed by the British International Development Agency,this paper employs quantitative research method,uses the data of China Labor Force Dynamic Survey 2016 to analyze the impact of the livelihood strategy of labor mobility on peasant households' livelihood outcomes,and explores how peasant households' livelihood capital affects their livelihood outcomes through livelihood strategy.Because livelihood strategy and livelihood capital are attached to the labor force,the individual characteristics of labor force are also included in the research framework.Specifically,this paper takes the livelihood strategy of labor mobility as the core explanatory variable,the livelihood capital of peasant households and the individual characteristics of labor force as the control variable,to explore the impact of labor mobility on the income of peasant households,the incidence of income poverty of peasant households and the incidence of multidimensional poverty of peasant households.This study finds that the livelihood strategy of labor mobility plays an important role in increasing peasant households' income and reducing the incidence of peasant households' income poverty.However,the role of labor mobility in alleviating multidimensional poverty of peasant households is limited.In addition,the peasant households' livelihood capital also plays an important role in poverty reduction through labor mobility.In detail,Firstly,at the level of peasant households' income,labor mobility can significantly increase the total income of peasant households,and the larger the proportion of migrant labor force of peasant households,the higher the total income of peasant households,from the perspective of migration areas,the labor force of poor peasant households migrates outside the county could enhance the total income of their families,while the labor force of non-poor peasant households migrates within the county could enhance the total income of their families;labor mobility can significantly increase the wage income of non-poor peasant households,moreover,the more provinces and longer time outside the county of non-poor peasant households' labor force migrates,the higher their wage income will be,and for poor peasant households,the larger the proportion of migrant labor force of peasant households,the higher their wage income will be;labor mobility can significantly reduce the agricultural income of non-poor peasant households,but has no significant impact on the agricultural income of poor peasant households,however the time outside the county the labor force of poor peasant households migrates could significantly reduce their agricultural income;the non-agricultural employment of migrant labor force could significantly increase the wage income and total income of peasant households,but reduce the agricultural income of peasant households.Secondly,at the level of the incidence of income poverty,labor mobility significantly reduces the incidence of income poverty of peasant households in underdeveloped areas.Thirdly,at the level of the incidence of multidimensional poverty,labor mobility could not alleviate the multidimensional poverty of peasant households in underdeveloped areas;and in the specific dimension of multidimensional poverty,labor mobility could effectively reduce the incidence of poverty at the material level of peasant households' living standards,but the role of reducing the incidence of poverty in non-material aspects such as education and health needs to be improved.Fourthly,livelihood capital has an impact on peasant households' livelihood results.Specifically,the role of natural capital in improving the livelihood outcomes of peasant households has diminished,the richer the natural capital of peasant households,the higher the probability of falling into income poverty and multidimensional poverty.The impact of material capital on income poverty and multidimensional poverty depends on the nature of specific material capital,the more traditional agricultural production materials owned by peasant households,the higher the probability of falling into income poverty and multidimensional poverty,and the more modern agricultural production materials they have,the lower their probability of falling into income poverty and multidimensional poverty.In financial capital,the more financial capital the peasant households have at their disposal,the more beneficial it is to alleviate their income poverty and multidimensional poverty,but the debt of peasant households is not conducive to alleviating their income poverty and multidimensional poverty.Human capital could effectively improve the income of peasant households,reduce the incidence of peasant households' income poverty and multidimensional poverty.New social capital could effectively increase the income of peasant households,reduce the incidence of income poverty and multidimensional poverty,but social capital has a threshold effect in poverty reduction.In view of this,this paper proposes the following policy recommendations: Firstly,it is necessary to build a modern agricultural industry system to enrich the livelihood options of peasant households.Rural labor mobility could increase the income of peasant households,but only by developing modern agriculture to improve the overall level of economic development in rural areas could we fundamentally solve the problems of farmers' survival and development,thus more opportunities for farmers to find jobs and start businesses could be provided.Secondly,it is necessary to perfect the public service system to improve the livelihood environment of farmers.Rural labor mobility could not significantly alleviate the multidimensional poverty of peasant households at the level of education and health.The government should provide corresponding social services and public goods to ensure that both migrants and rural residents get good public services.Thirdly,it is necessary to attach great importance to the asset construction of peasant households to optimize the peasant households' livelihood capital.The livelihood capital of peasant households affects their livelihood choice and livelihood results,it is better to strengthen the asset construction of peasant households to improve peasant households' ability to resist risks,and reduce the vulnerability of peasant households.Fourthly,it is necessary to guide rural labor force export rationally to reduce peasant households' livelihood risk.In order to reduce the blindness and the risk of rural labor mobility,it is better to make market-oriented guidance for rural labor mobility,increase the human capital stock of rural labor force,and promote the local or nearby transfer of rural labor force.