Cohort effect or structural effect: triple disadvantages of young rural migrants in economic integration into the host society in China

Juhua Yang, Renmin University of China

Drawing on a new typology that distinguishes hukou, migration status, and age cohort, and utilizing nationally representative data, this paper explores the associates of socioeconomic integration of young rural migrants in the host society. Multilevel model results indicate that rural migrants and urban-urban migrants achieved less than local urbanites, suggesting an effect of locatons of hukou; rural migrants achieved less than both urban-urban migrants and local urbanites, implying an effect of types of hukou, and young rural migrants achieved the lest, suggesting an effect of types and locations of hukou, and age. Evidently, young rural migrants are the most vulnerable population with triple disadvantages. Such phenomena challenge the notion that marketization necessarily promotes rights and legal equality in a linear fashion, and the potentially positive impact of migration on personal development might be compromised by institutional constraints (e.g., hukou) that exclude rural-ers and outsiders, particularly the youths.