A Comprehensive Framework of Job Mobility of Migrant Workers in China

Content introduction：

　　Based on a survey among the migrant workers in six cities of Eastern China, this research investigated and explained the job mobility of migrant workers in a comprehensive framework which incorporated both job mobility decision-making of migrant workers and recruitment and employment of enterprises. From the perspective of migrant workers, who were prompted by the desire of income gain and working condition improvement, high job mobility was caused by constantly using the “trial and error” method in search for better jobs in a labor market with information asymmetry. Therefore, the difference in length of urban stay and in social integration resulted in differential abilities in obtaining and analyzing market information, which resulted in differential mobility levels. From the perspective of the firms, especially the labor-intensive enterprises and export-oriented enterprises, cheap labor was the major competitive advantage, thus an inevitable choice was to strive to maintain the low wages of labor. The legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers could not be guaranteed as nonstandard employment system, segmentation of the labor market, and local social isolation of migrant workers led to the absence of government supervision, failure of social supervision as well as failure of moral constraints. Under these circumstances, young migrant workers had to “vote with their feet” and keep changing jobs frequently while old migrant workers were likely to be dismissed, both resulting in high level of job mobility.