Income impacts of rural household livelihood strategies: insights from Chongqing, Southwest China

Abstract

With China’s rapid economic development, rural livelihoods have undergone significant changes, with traditional agriculture increasingly replaced by non-farm employment opportunities. This shift has led some households into a ‘poverty trap’ characterized by reduced income and environmental degradation, hindering local sustainable development. Therefore, this study focuses on ethnic minority rural households in ecologically fragile and economically disadvantaged areas of Chongqing, southwest China, assesses their livelihood assets under the sustainable livelihood framework, and evaluates the impact of rural household livelihood strategy choices on income using the treatment effect model and logistic regression. The results indicate that the assets of ethnic minority households in Chongqing can be categorized into four groups: low assets-high savings, low assets-low savings, high assets-high savings, and high assets-low savings. Livelihood strategy choices significantly influence household income, with transitions from part-time agriculture to other livelihood types (excluding subsidized livelihoods) leading to substantial income gains for rural households. Specifically, shifting to full-time jobs, a combination of full-time and part-time jobs, or part-time jobs increases average household income by 2.656, 1.689, and 1.184 units, respectively. The study underscores the importance of tailoring income improvement strategies to the specific characteristics of household livelihood assets, providing insights for enhancing the sustainability of rural livelihoods.