A Study On The Influencing Factors Of Social Integration Of Internal Migrants

Since the reform and opening up,the large-scale flow of labor has rapidly promoted China’s urbanization process.The urbanization rate of the permanent population in China has increased with an average annual growth rate of 3.02%,from 17.9%in 1978 to 63.89%in 2020,which is significantly faster than other countries in the history of world economy.However,it is worth noting that the current urbanization in China is in a state of "semi-urbanization".Although a large number of internal migrants have entered the city,they can’t transform into urban residents completely.They cannot enjoy the same treatment as urban residents in terms of labor remuneration,social security,and children’s education,and cannot truly integrate into urban life.This restricts the further release of demographic dividend and is not conducive to maintaining social stability and harmony.In order to promote the internal migrants from "flow" to"retention",the state and local governments have accelerated a series of reforms of household registration system and its attachment system,emphasized the comprehensive integration of internal migrants into urban economic and social life,and proposed to promote the people-oriented new urbanization strategy.Factors affecting the social integration of internal migrants include economic,cultural and social interaction.Centering on the theme of "social integration of internal migrants",this dissertation will study the integration status of internal migrants from the following three aspects.First of all,immigrants face the problem of incomplete information of labor market in the destination,we take the income of internal migrants as the research object and explore the impact of the development of urban information technology on their income;Secondly,the cultural integration of internal migrants in the city is concerned.This dissertation takes dialect diversity as a proxy variable of the regional culture of destination to study the impact of dialect diversity on the settlement intention of internal migrants.Finally,based on the background of equalization of basic public services,we examine the educational interaction between migrant children and local children.Based on the above research,this dissertation advocates that the process of urbanization in China should strengthen information construction,build inclusive cities,pay attention to the social interaction between internal migrants and local people,and promote social integration in accordance with local conditions.Specifically,the research content of this dissertation includes the following three aspects:First,based on the China Migrants Dynamic Survey data in 2015,2016 and 2017,we empirically examine the influence of urban information technology development on the income of internal migrants.The results show that increase in the level of regional Internet informatization will increase the income of internal migrants.The mechanism analysis shows that the main reason for this effect is that the development of urban Internet information technology will increase the probability of internal migrants using Internet for employment and improve their skill matching degree to promote income growth.Further analysis shows that the development of urban information technology will reduce the dispersion of wage income within the city and occupation,which also verifies that the development of information technology is conducive to alleviating information asymmetry in the labor market.Heterogeneity analysis results show that the effect of non-agricultural,highly educated,inter-provincial migration,shorter migration time or high-skilled occupations is more obvious,and the development of information technology has a more significant effect on the income of internal migrants in larger cities.This shows the urgency of bridging the "digital divide" among vulnerable groups.Second,dialectal diversity reflects cultural diversity.Using the China Migrants Dynamic Survey data in 2017,we empirically examine the impact of cultural diversity on the willingness of internal migrants to settle down permanently.Results show that internal migrants are less likely to stay permanently when the dialectal diversity gets higher,especially for those who receive less education,enjoy lower job stability,who move actively and move across different dialects or provinces.But if the inflow area is more inclusive and the system is more perfect,the hindering effect of dialect diversity on the willingness of internal migrants to settle down will be weakened.After taking endogeneity into consideration and conducting a series of robustness tests,we find the results are consistent.Further study shows that the channel through which the dialectal diversity can impact on permanent immigration is the cultural identity effect,which reduces the social identity of immigrants.In addition,we further analyze the impact of regional cultural differences between inflow and outflow regions,and finds that regional cultural differences significantly reduce the willingness of internal migrants to settle down.Third,this dissertation uses baseline data from the China Education Panel Survey(2013-2014)to examine the impact of changes in the proportion of internal migrants in class on students from the perspective of peer effect.The empirical results show that the increase of migrant peers has a temporary negative impact on the cognitive ability and academic performance of class students,but this negative result gradually disappeared with increasing grades,and this negative impact is not because local students are affected by the bad habits of migrant children,but because teacher considers the class in the teaching process,the results of the adjustment of teaching methods due to the heterogeneity of students’ learning progress.And compared with local students,migrant children are less negatively affected.The possible reason is that communicating with groups of migrant children with the same background will make migrant students feel more friendly,and a harmonious atmosphere will promote academic progress.Further heterogeneity analysis shows that the difference between the proportion of internal migrants in class and the local and non-local students is more significant in boys and students who have not lived in school since childhood.Moreover,it is more obvious in classes with a high internal migrants,and the local students who do not have close communication with non-local students,and in the schools with a higher ranking.