Rural-urban migration and wage determination: The case of Tianjin, China

Since the mid-1980s, mass labor migration from the countryside to urban areas has been one of the most dramatic and noticeable changes in China. Based on survey data from Tianjin, this paper examines the characteristics of migrants and compares the employment and social conditions of migrants with those of permanent urban residents. It also investigates the determinants that affect wages of both migrant and non-migrant workers in order to evaluate how economic and social-demographic factors contribute to the earning gap between rural and urban workers.