Employment of rural-urban migrants: segmentation between sectors and occupational status

LIU Dan;LEI Hong

Youth Studies,2016,No. 06

Based on the data from the dynamic monitoring of migrants in 2013, this study takes the employment condition of the rural-urban migrant population as the research object. We first explore the income, working hours, acquisition of social security and work type in four employment sectors; then analyze the influences of capital on entry into four employment sectors and acquisition of occupational status. According to the findings, there exists the sector segmentation in rural-urban migrant population’s employment. For the rural-urban migrant population, their knowledge and human capital would increase their opportunity to enter into the formal labor market, and would be beneficial to achieve higher occupational status in the formal labor market. Their political capital is limited. The political capital could only increase their opportunity to enter into the labor market within the system, and could only be beneficial for them to achieve higher occupational status in the labor market within the system. The “weak tie” in the social capital could enhance their opportunity to enter into the formal labor market. However, in the labor market within the system, the social capital is not beneficial to achieve higher occupational status.