Economic Development and Social Integration of Migrants in China

Abstract

Migrants often face challenges in social integration. Using a nationally representative sample of migrant workers and employing the epidemiological approach, this paper examines the determinants of social integration. It finds that, conditional on a set of individual features, the migrants from less-developed provinces have greater difficulty in integrating into local communities. These results still demonstrate robustness across alternative variables, samples, and various specifications. Mechanism analysis shows that educational and employment factors account for over 40 percent of the variance in social integration levels, suggesting their significant influence. Additionally, the analysis suggests that native bias against migrants, along with misunderstandings between them, may account for part of the remaining variation in social integration levels. Importantly, the ability to speak local dialects has been identified as a crucial factor that can significantly improve migrants' subjective experience of integrating into a new city. By identifying one specific cause of social integration, this paper provides information to individuals and governments and assists them to improve social integration.