The Educational Level of Rural Labor, Population Urbanization, and Sustainable Economic Growth in China

Shu Cao, Nannan Yu, Yang Wu, Zihe Wang and Jianing Mi
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Shu Cao: School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150000, China
Nannan Yu: School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150000, China
Yang Wu: School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Zihe Wang: International Education Centre, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China
Jianing Mi: School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150000, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: Since the 1978 economic reform, China has undergone a historical process of rapid urbanization. Although this process has been recognized as a key factor in the development of sustainable growth in China, low quality rural labor continues to limit the effectiveness of the country’s urbanization. Our study uses a spatial analysis framework to explore how the education level of rural laborers moderates the effect of urbanization on economic growth with provincial data collected from 1996 to 2015. Our results reveal that the influence of population urbanization on sustainable growth is mediated by the improvement of consumption capacity of urban dwellers and the industrial structural changes. The education level of rural laborers adjusts the urbanization’s influence on the consumption capacity of residents, which further affects economic growth. Empirical evidence indicates that the educationally limited rural population negatively moderates the impact of urbanization on sustainable economic growth by restraining the consumption capacity of migrating rural labor. It is also found that in some provinces with less-qualified rural labor, such as Gansu, Yunnan and Qinghai, population urbanization has not contributed to a corresponding economic growth, indicating that these provinces may have undergone urbanization without growth. These findings suggest that basic education is critical to the growth of income and consumption capacities of rural labor when laborers are migrating to urban areas. To achieve a valid urbanization process and sustainable growth, state and local governments must improve the basic education scheme, especially the nine-year compulsory education in Chinese rural areas through public financial investment and policy support.

Keywords: education level; rural labor; population urbanization; sustainable growth; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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