Public Health Service and Migration Destinations among the Labor of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China

Abstract

The relationship between public investment and population migration is a classic topic in developing regions. With social and economic development, the role of public health services is paid high attention. However, empirical studies on the relationship between public health services and labor migration are rare, especially for populations from minority areas. This study investigated the correlation between public health services and migration destinations and its heterogeneity among laborers from Xinjiang. Data of the annual Xinjiang Statistical Yearbook and the CMDS are used, and multinomial logit regressions are adopted. The results show that public health services in a county have a significant and negative correlation with the probability of migration with a long range among laborers from Xinjiang. This correlation is inclusive of gender, age, human capital, hukou, marital status, home region, and economic status. It implies that the improvement of public health services in Xinjiang can attract laborers to live and work there, which could contribute to the revitalization of Xinjiang and reduce the development gap between Xinjiang and other provinces.