Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Discrimination against Rural Household in China’s Urban Migrant Labour Market and Its Influencing Factors

Abstract: Based on the persistence of China’s household registration system and the long-term division of the urban-rural dual structure, it is argued in the framework of information economics that rural household, as a negative stereotype, leads to the discrimination against rural household in the urban migrant labour market under information asymmetry. Based on the data of China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) from 2011-2017, the Oaxaca-Blinder model is used to calculate the degree of discrimination against rural household migrant at the national level over the years, and it is found that wage discrimination against rural household migrant in China’s urban migrant labour market is still prevalent. In general, hukou-based labor market discrimination in China has been declining, which is closely linked to the household registration system reform by the Chinese government. Using a social quasi-experiment implemented under China’s Unified Urban-Rural Hukou Registration System Reform, this study finds when the visible label of “rural hukou ( “ 户口” )” is removed the salary difference caused by hukou-based labor market discrimination decreases sharply. Moreover, by incorporating the new human capital characteristics “social relations” and “migration experience” into the discrimination analysis model, it is found that the reduction of information asymmetry can weaken the degree of discrimination against rural household migrant. Last, there are various heterogeneity in hukou-based labor market discrimination at national level. In particular, the more regulated the labour market is, the higher the proportion of rural migrants and the less competitive it is with urban migrants, the less discriminatory hukou-based labor market is.