Work, wage and welfare entitlement: migrant workers in urban labor market in China

Purpose: This thesis seeks to increase our understanding of migratory behaviour of floating population and the discrimination against migrant workers in China's urban labour market. Theoretical perspective: The literature mainly contains three kinds of theoretical approaches: 1. the "push and pull" theory, human capital investment theory and two sectors theory. 2. the labour market segmentation theory. 3. the discrimination theory. Methodology: 1. The Conditional Logit Model was used to analyse the impact of economic and social development of Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin on the migratory behaviour of migrant workers. 2. A series of econometric models, for instance, the Multinomial Logit Model, the Quantile Regression, the Quantile Decomposition method, the Count Model, the Logit Model and the Oaxaca-Blinder method were used to calculate the degree to which the discrimination against migrant workers and female workers from different groups in employment, wage earnings and welfare entitlement. Research implications: the study applies the migration theory, discrimination theory and the labour market segmentation theory empirically in a transitional society. Practical and Social implications: the systematic study on the employment, wage earnings and welfare entitlement of migrant workers in the urban labour market could provide evidence for Chinese government's policy making.