Urban Labour-Force Experience as a Determinant of Rural Occupation Change: Evidence from Recent Urban-Rural Return Migration in China

Abstract

An integrated approach to temporary migration in developing countries is proposed by linking past urban labour-force experience to postreturn entrepreneurial activities. The central argument is that labour migration is a family strategy to acquire both physical and human capital for a future technological transformation. On the basis of an in-depth survey of returned migrants that was conducted in rural China, I focus on the explanation of return rural occupation change in a multivariate framework. I find that it is the improvement of the migrant's skills and entrepreneurial ability rather than their savings and remittances that strongly facilitates a return rural occupational change. The policy implication of the finding is to shift efforts from narrowing intersectoral wage differentials to improving rural learning and training opportunities.