Economic integration and residential mobility of land-lost households in China: Evidence from Nanchang city

Keywords: Integration; urbanization; land-lost farmers; inequality; land expropriation; generations; residential mobility; China
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

Many farmers lost their land and resettled in urban areas because of the rapid urban expansion of China. As the result of long-standing unequal economic development and the provision of education between rural and urban China, these land-lost farmers have limited human capital compared to urban residents. Although many studies have investigated their livelihood conditions after their resettlement, very little is known about their long-term outcomes. Based on a questionnaire survey, this study investigated the economic integration and residential mobility of land-lost farmers living in urban areas for more than ten years. Further, this study also examined the association between their economic integration and residential mobility. Our survey results indicate that the economic integration and resiential mobility of the offspring from land-lost households were low. There were still considerable disparities between them and other urbanites in terms of educational and occupational attainment. Although their employment rate was improved, the quality of their occupation was not significantly enhanced. Unskilled or semi-skilled jobs were most common among the offspring from land-lost households. Furthermore, nearly half of the offspring reported a relatively low level of residential mobility (still living in the collective resettlement neighborhoods) which is influenced by demographic characteristics, family characteristics, and economic integration.