The settlement of rural migrants in urban China – some of China's migrants are not ‘floating’ anymore

    Abstract:  This paper considers economic models of migration in the context of current Chinese migration. We argue that using formally changing one's household registration (hukou) location is too narrow a definition of settlement for policy purposes. Instead we show that time in the city and co-residence with spouses and separately with children reveals systematic settlement behavior on the part of a subset of migrants. The empirical evidence offered is largely descriptive but shows that those migrants who were younger at the age of migration, who are currently married and self-employed spend more years in the city. Men who have been in the city longer and are self-employed are much more likely to be co-residing with their wife. Self-employment is also a predictor of co-residence with children for both mothers and fathers.
    Keywords:  permanent migration, circular migration, settlement, urbanization
    ( in Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies,Volume 9, Issue 3, 2011,pages 283-300 )