By Zhuo Xian, Department of Development Strategy and Regional Economy, DRC; & Yang Xiuna, China Development Research Foundation

Research Report, No.247, 2021 (Total 6312) 2021-9-6

Abstract: At present, the total number of migrant workers has basically returned to the level before the Covid-19 pandemic, and the employment structure shows a new trend of cross-province migrant workers returning to their hometowns and the range of local employment has expanded from townships to counties. Over 40% of migrant workers are employed in their own towns and nearly three quarters of migrant workers are employed within their own provinces. The return of migrant workers is not caused by the decline of employment demand in the developed areas, but the result of attraction of the county’s economic development and thrust of high costs of moving to urban areas for the whole family. The return of migrant workers brings labor, capital and technology to their hometown, which is of positive significance to activating county economy and promoting rural vitality. However, in the process of migrant workers returning to the local areas, problems such as frictional unemployment, insufficient supply of vocational education in counties, and premature exit of some migrant workers from the labor market have also arisen. To this end, it is necessary to eliminate information asymmetry in the labor market, promote the layout and specialization of vocational education to match with the new trend, and implement a new type of family-oriented urbanization.

Keywords: migrant workers, return, employment