Abstract
By using the China Household Income Project’s survey data from 2007 and 2013, this paper
examines the determinants of migrant worker’s pension participation in China. In particular, this paper focuses on the choice between “Worker’s Basic Pension Insurance” (WBPI) and “New Rural Social Pension Insurance” (NRSPI). By using logit regression and multinomial probit regression, we find that higher education, higher income, working in a state-owned enterprise or a pioneering area of pension reform, and having a labor contract or a local hukou improve the possibility of participating in a pension system and choosing WBPI. Due to the differences between these two pension systems, some factors inversely affect migrant workers’ choices between the two pension systems. Therefore, the ower benefits of NRSPI reduce the incentive to participate. These results highlight the importance of labor contracts, education level, and income. In addition to this, it is more important to improve participation in WBPI than NRSPI.
