The age selectivity of migrant population at the provincial level of China

Keywords: Age; migration selectivity; China; unequal exchange
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 63

Abstract

It is nothing new that migration is selective regarding age. But in China, the magnitude of migration age selectivity is quite colossal. This paper proposes that the pronounced age selectivity of migration in China indicates an unequal exchange of labor and care between the destinations and origins. For internal migration in China in the past several decades, the major destinations are coastal urban areas, and the major origins are inland rural areas. The destinations “cherry pick” young healthy adults to move into their jurisdictions, leaving the old and frail at the origins in lack of care from the young health adults. By doing this, the destinations “economize” on social reproduction of migrant labor power, and the origins are faced with a heavy financial burden of providing public services and a care drain. In examining the age regularities of thirty mainland provinces, the paper inspects their age profiles and dependency ratios, and also devises an “age selectivity index” to measure the ability of the provinces to take in young-adult migrants and leave out the dependents of the migrants.