The Effect of Rural-to-urban Labour Migration on Poverty Reduction in Ethnic Poverty-stricken Areas of Western China

Abstract

Rural-to-urban labour migration is a well-known effective way to promote employment, improve income and reduce poverty in rural China. However, there has been a growing debate on whether the rural-to-urban labour migration could still play an important role as an economic slowdown and limited demographic dividend. Using a regional dataset, the present paper examines the effect of rural-to-urban labour migration on poverty reduction in poverty-stricken areas of Western China. The results show that rural-urban labour migration has a significant positive effect on improving income and reducing poverty, while the influence coefficient has not declined yearly, there is however a gap among different ethnic groups. Therefore, the government should adopt targeted policies to encourage and support rural labour migration, especially for poor ethnic-minority areas where it is difficult to improve livelihoods through local production. Along with this, more supporting policies or projects should pay attention to rural migrants of certain ethnic groups.