Effect of hukou Accessibility on Migrants’ Long Term Settlement Intention in Destination

Peilin Li, Yufeng Wu and Hui Ouyang
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Peilin Li: Institute of Spatial Planning and Regional Economy, Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, Beijing 100038, China
Yufeng Wu: Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Hui Ouyang: Institute of Market and Price Research, Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, Beijing 100038, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-17

Abstract: Migrants’ long-term settlement intention in urban areas has been emphasized by both policy makers and researchers in promoting urbanization and coordinating regional economic development. This study advances the body of knowledge by investigating the effect of what E.S. Lee has proposed as ‘intervening obstacles’ in the ‘push-and-pull’ theory—the difficulty in obtaining hukou in migration destination, on their long-term settlement intention in urban areas. Logistic regressions were applied to examine the effect of urban registered residence system (the hukou system) accessibility on migrants’ long-term settlement intention in urban areas, as well as the determinants of subjective evaluated difficulty in obtaining urban hukou , based on a nation-wide large-scale survey in 46 Chinese cities. Our results suggest that difficulty in obtaining urban hukou does play an important role in shaping country-wide population movement. However, the negative impact of hukou difficulty on migrant workers’ residence intention is not linear, and only when the threshold in obtaining hukou is too high and difficult to achieve will migrant workers choose to return to their hometown in the long term. Moreover, the subjective evaluation of difficulty is further influenced by personal capability and living conditions in cities. This study provides pragmatic implications for administrations from either push side or pull side to improve habitant-related development strategies.

Keywords: hukou; intervening obstacles; long-term settlement intention; migrants; push-and-pull theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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