TY - JOUR
T1 - Schooling returns for migrant workers in China
T2 - Estimations from the perspective of the institutional environment in a rural setting
AU - Yao, Yao
AU - Chen, George S.
AU - Salim, Ruhul
AU - Yu, Xiaojun
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - We examine schooling returns for migrant workers in China based on the 2009 Rural-Urban Migration in China (RUMiC) survey. Using a novel instrumental variable (IV) set based on the institutional environment unique to rural China, we find the point estimates of returns to lie within the range of 7.8%–10.7% for each additional year of schooling. Whilst our estimates are slightly higher than those reported for this cohort of workers in the literature, they are significantly lower than those enjoyed urban dwellers. Furthermore, we identify a wider gap in schooling returns between male (14.7%) and female (8.5%) migrant workers than the comparable gap for urban dwellers. Our results provide another line of evidence supporting a segmented labor market in urban China and remain robust to different estimators and under various IV restrictions. We suggest that improving the education system in the rural areas and eliminating the gender gap among migrant workers represent the necessary steps for enhancing social harmony in the Chinese society.
AB - We examine schooling returns for migrant workers in China based on the 2009 Rural-Urban Migration in China (RUMiC) survey. Using a novel instrumental variable (IV) set based on the institutional environment unique to rural China, we find the point estimates of returns to lie within the range of 7.8%–10.7% for each additional year of schooling. Whilst our estimates are slightly higher than those reported for this cohort of workers in the literature, they are significantly lower than those enjoyed urban dwellers. Furthermore, we identify a wider gap in schooling returns between male (14.7%) and female (8.5%) migrant workers than the comparable gap for urban dwellers. Our results provide another line of evidence supporting a segmented labor market in urban China and remain robust to different estimators and under various IV restrictions. We suggest that improving the education system in the rural areas and eliminating the gender gap among migrant workers represent the necessary steps for enhancing social harmony in the Chinese society.
KW - Gender gap
KW - Instrumental variables
KW - Migrant workers
KW - rural institutional environment
KW - Schooling returns
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85030640779&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.chieco.2017.09.008
DO - 10.1016/j.chieco.2017.09.008
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85030640779
VL - 51
SP - 240
EP - 256
JO - China Economic Review
JF - China Economic Review
SN - 1043-951X
ER -