Factors Affecting Employment Stability of Labor Immigration: Implications for Sustainable Development
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear authors, I have seen the changes on your manuscript, I think the article has improved a lot. However, some revisions are needed before publication. For example, the bibliography was not entered correctly in alphabetical order (A-Z). Please pay attention and also check the references and citation style. The article is not properly cited. I also recommend that you use recent references (2020-2021-2022). Use the same style for all tables (Edit Table 5). Describe the strengths and weaknesses of your article. In addition, moderate changes to the English language are required.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer：
Thank you very much for your affirmation of this article!
We have carefully sorted out and improved your suggestions and modifications one by one.
（1）For example, the bibliography was not entered correctly in alphabetical order (A-Z). Please pay attention and also check the references and citation style. The article is not properly cited.
On this point, we have revised it according to the requirements of the journal and the format of relevant documents.
（2）I also recommend that you use recent references (2020-2021-2022).
On this point, we have supplemented some of the latest literature.
For example: References 9, 25, 26.
（3）Use the same style for all tables (Edit Table 5).
We have modified this point, see Table 5 of P10.
（4）Describe the strengths and weaknesses of your article.
This is mainly distributed in "5 Conclusion and Discussion”
For "strengths", it is not particularly obvious. For "weaknesses", we have made a more detailed description in "Limits"（P14）.
（5）In addition, moderate changes to the English language are required.
We are also working hard to improve this.
In a word, thank you very much for your insightful comments and suggestions. We have also carefully and purposefully revised and improved each of your comments and suggestions, and improved the level of the paper to a certain extent!
If there is anything wrong, please criticize and correct it.
Thank you!
Author Response File: 
Author Response.doc
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript has some limitations: the analisys methodology is not easy to understand for non expert reader. Literature review is not enough. The model is not formalized. The images are not presented well and adequately contextualised. In conclusion, this is a detailed analysis and the research questions are valid, but it needs to be improved.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer：
Thank you very much for your affirmation of this article!
We have carefully sorted out and improved your suggestions and modifications one by one.
（1）the analisys methodology is not easy to understand for non expert reader.
On this point, I have added a brief introduction of "SEM" to my paper：line 240-247
“Structural equation model (SEM), also known as covariance structure analysis, as a multivariate statistical method, has become increasingly mature after years of practice and development, and is widely used in economics, management, psychology, education and other fields, especially in satisfaction research. The research results are reasonable and reliable, can handle measurement and analysis problems at the same time, and have theoretical apriority. It allows measurement errors between independent variables and dependent variables, and analyzes the relationship between potential variables by measuring observable variables.”
（2）Literature review is not enough.
We have also made some appropriate supplements on this point. we have supplemented some of the latest literature.For example: References 9, 25, 26.
（3）The model is not formalized.
About this point, I have handled "Standardized Estimate" in Table 5(P10).
（4）The images are not presented well and adequately contextualised.
On this point, we deleted the two lines in Figure 2, which is the process of model modification, so that the image is relatively beautified（P8 Figure 2）.
In a word, thank you very much for your insightful comments and suggestions. We have also carefully and purposefully revised and improved each of your comments and suggestions, and improved the level of the paper to a certain extent!
If there is anything wrong, please criticize and correct it.
Thank you!
Author Response File: Author Response.doc
Reviewer 3 Report
A promising title ensures the attention of the readers. Sustainable development in itself can fulfil this role even if a Chines version is put in the focus, which is handled as a unique and only good solution. More criticism is to be expected in a scientific paper showing the negative effects and also the disadvantages of this approach. A big question remains why competence development is not tackled at all, which per sé could contribute to more stable employment? In the formulated structure, it seems that this solution ensures a high percentage of low-skilled labour force in the urban areas where the industry can exploit its concentration and availability.
Beyond this basic problem, the introduction adequately places the main focus on the intention of the authors. Nevertheless, a clear and explicitly formulated research question is missing. The closing sentences of 2.1 should be put here.
The literature review starts with an international listing, which backs the purpose of the paper. However, this seems rather a compulsory element than a real embedded one, just to ensure the international outlook. Moreover, a synthesising table could ensure a better understanding of the paper’s intentions.
2.2 considers the identified elements as ab ovo, without a proper literature linkage and identification. In this way, it seems that the analysis has been carried out and later some justification is provided in order to support the variables. 3.1 doesn’t dissolve this basic issue.
3.2 cannot be interpreted without an approximate presentation of the basic population.
The reliability analysis is proper, the validity can be accepted even if it is not clear why EFA has been carried out if the CFA is in the focus. Furthermore, in the SEM model, it is to be justified why to connect errors of explanatory variables to outcome variables’ errors. It is uncommon to apply a similar connection with this purpose.
The results presentation and interpretation meet the standards, the concluding section is excellent.
Last, it is quite confusing why the corrected version is submitted, as this was a draft or unfinished work.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer：
Thank you very much for your affirmation of this article!
We have carefully sorted out and improved your suggestions and modifications one by one.
Labor migration is an important measure taken by the Chinese government to solve absolute poverty, and gratifying changes have taken place in all aspects of labor migration. However, due to the influence of many factors, labor migration is still in relative poverty. If we want to make labor migration achieve sustainable development, we must solve its employment problem and keep it in a high level of stability.
（1）“In the formulated structure, it seems that this solution ensures a high percentage of low-skilled labour force in the urban areas where the industry can exploit its concentration and availability.”
On this point, we have added the importance of labor migration to urbanization in Introduction. （Line42-45）
“At the same time, the influx of these immigrants has not only increased the urban population and urbanization rate, but also increased the labor force for the development of the city, made up for the shortage of labor force, and laid a good foundation for the sustainable development of the city.”
（2）A big question remains why competence development is not tackled at all, which per sé could contribute to more stable employment?
On this point, this article has mentioned in the introduction that the ability of migrant workers is low, including "generally low cultural quality, relatively low labor skills, relatively weak sustainable development ability, and relatively weak social adaptability". Especially in the study of human capital, under the condition of confirming that "the level of objective human capital is low and difficult to change rapidly", the impact of "subjective human capital - professionalism on the employment stability of labor migrants" was emphatically discussed, so the research did not focus on improving the level of labor migrants' human capital.
（3）Beyond this basic problem, the introduction adequately places the main focus on the intention of the authors. Nevertheless, a clear and explicitly formulated research question is missing. The closing sentences of 2.1 should be put here.
On this point, I have already followed your suggestion that "the closing sentence of 2.1 should be put here" (line103-107)
（4）2.2 considers the identified elements as ab ovo, without a proper literature linkage and identification. In this way, it seems that the analysis has been carried out and later some justification is provided in order to support the variables.
On this point, I have added relevant content in each part of 2.2.
2.2.1 The relationship between relocation satisfaction and employment stability
Added line 141-145
The public satisfaction of community service refers to the self-perception and evaluation of the public or citizens on the various services provided by the community. One of the first people to bring public satisfaction measurement to the community was academic Gregg. Van Ryzin[16]. The evaluation of services provided by labor migrants to their communities has an important impact on their employment stability.
2.2.2 The relationship between relocation adaptability and employment stability
Added line 176-182
Social Adaptability, also known as adaptive capacity or adaptive behavior, is the psychological and behavioral changes of individuals to achieve a harmonious relationship with the environment. For immigrant adaptation, Berry[18] suggested including both psychological and economic adaptation, Kim[19] suggested including psychological adaptation, and Kolaitis et al.[20] noted that those with high cultural similarity were more likely to integrate into local society. The level of social adaptability of labor migrants also has a very important impact on their employment stability.
2.2.3 The relationship between subjective human capital and employment stability
Added line 213-214
Schultz (1960) believed that human capital is represented by knowledge, skills, experience and health that people have [21].
（5）3.1 doesn’t dissolve this basic issue.
In this regard, we have added the specific content of the questionn aire.
Line 258-266
“The questionnaire is divided into five parts. The first part is about the respondents' personal characteristics and family characteristics, including the respondents' gender, age, education level and basic economic conditions of their families; The second part is relocation satisfaction, including satisfaction with policy support, community development and development environment; The third part is relocation adaptability, including economic adaptability and cultural adaptability; The fourth part is subjective human capital, including the status of engagement; The fifth part is employment stability, including employment self-assessment, family members' employment satisfaction and employment environment satisfaction. ”
（6）3.2 cannot be interpreted without an approximate presentation of the basic population.
On this point, I have continued to make appropriate adjustments to the content of the article to make it more in line with the needs of research.
Line 272-285
3.2 Data collection
The data used in this study came from a questionnaire survey, and the subjects of the survey were households in three labor immigrant communities in Yinchuan City, Ningxia. From August to September 2020, data were collected through paper questionnaires and one-to-one household registration. A total of 415 questionnaires were obtained, and 360 valid questionnaires were obtained after review, with an effective rate of 86.75%.
“In this survey, there were 176 males (48.9%) and 184 females (51.1%), with a relatively balanced gender ratio; most of the participants were between the ages of 30 and 49 (58.6%). Between 2016 and 2020, for more than half, the monthly income was less than CNY 2,000; the proportions of educational experience are 36.4% illiterate, 19.4% in primary school, 23.6% in junior high school, 11.7% in high school, 5.0% in college, and 3.9% in undergraduate-level education. The basic information of the respondents is shown in Table 2.”
（7）The reliability analysis is proper, the validity can be accepted even if it is not clear why EFA has been carried out if the CFA is in the focus.
In this regard, since the scales used in this study are all self-made by the research team, in order to ensure the reliability of the subject data, we also conducted a "confirmatory factor analysis" after the "exploratory factor analysis" to ensure the scientific and rigorous nature of the research.
（8）Furthermore, in the SEM model, it is to be justified why to connect errors of explanatory variables to outcome variables’ errors. It is uncommon to apply a similar connection with this purpose.
This is the result of optimization and modification of the model. On the one hand, the "connection" of the two groups of error terms improves the significance of variables, making them conform to the expected results of the model; On the other hand, the connection of the two groups of error terms has certain social significance. The connection between CS1 and ES2 shows that the improvement of the level of CS1 (community security satisfaction) is conducive to the improvement of the level of ES2 (family members' employment satisfaction), which is conducive to the improvement of the level of employment stability, and vice versa; The connection between EA1 and ES3 shows that the improvement of the level of EA1 (income mode adaptability) is conducive to the improvement of the level of ES3 (employment environment satisfaction), which is also conducive to the improvement of the level of employment stability, and vice versa.
In order to beautify Figure 2 and avoid causing more misunderstanding, we deleted two connecting lines during the modification to better understand the paper.
（9）Last, it is quite confusing why the corrected version is submitted, as this was a draft or unfinished work.
This is due to mistakes in work, and I apologize for the inconvenience.
In a word, thank you very much for your insightful comments and suggestions. We have also carefully and purposefully revised and improved each of your comments and suggestions, and improved the level of the paper to a certain extent!
Thanks again!
Author Response File: Author Response.doc
Reviewer 4 Report
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a more sophisticated understanding of how to accelerate the sustainable development of labor migrationof the Chinese by addressing the factors that affect the employment stability of Chinese labor migrants. Overall, the conceptual argument and methodical approach appear mature enough for this journal, with the following suggestions.
Literature
Relevant literature on the labor migrants categories and the relevant theories should be included. (Page 2). We could use as a reference the ILO
Reference on the Chinese project may also help when addressing the institutional environment in China since potential readers could be outside of China (page 2)
What are the relevant theories that you are referring to (page 2)
Since you focus on fulltime employment you should put some reference on the detrimental effects of part-time jobs and unstable employment on workers’ well-being (page 3)
-Vasileiou, Efi, New flexible forms and individuals’ job satisfaction. MIBES Transactions 2012, 6,100-112. http://mibes.uth.gr/vol6_2012.html
We could explain in a footnote what is the Dibao policy (page 5)
a close relationship between this form of adaptability and sex (needs also a reference)
-Cohen, P.J., Lawless, S., Dyer, M. et al. Understanding adaptive capacity and capacity to innovate in social–ecological systems: Applying a gender lens. Ambio 45 (Suppl 3), 309–321 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-016-0831-4
Conceptual model
According to Mincer (1958) and Becker (1964), human capital is made up of the knowledge, skills, and competencies that enable an individual to be more productive in the workplace. Thus I propose not to use the term subjective human capital but noncognitive human capital.
-Mincer, J. (1958) Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution, Journal of Political Economy, 66, 281-302.
https://doi.org/10.1086/258055
-Becker, G.S. (1964) Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Econometric analysis
Since those without a qualification make up more than half of your sample (illiteracy and primary school), I propose using gender and education as control variables in your econometric model. You could also address this issue in a subsequent study.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer：
Thank you very much for your affirmation of this article!
We have carefully sorted out and improved your suggestions and modifications one by one.
（1）Relevant literature on the labor migrants categories and the relevant theories should be included. (Page 2). We could use as a reference the ILO
In this regard, the classification of labor migration has been divided into three categories. This study focuses on the third category, "Chinese style labor migration"; For the relevant literature of relevant theories, since the focus of this paper is "factors affecting the employment stability of labor migration", the measurement indicators and influencing factors of "employment stability" are highlighted in the literature review. In the process of this revision, the relevant literature review has been strengthened in the relevant parts. For example: References 9, 25, 26.
（2）Reference on the Chinese project may also help when addressing the institutional environment in China since potential readers could be outside of China (page 2)
In this regard, we have made a brief introduction to the macro level - China's ex situ poverty alleviation and relocation project and the micro level - Ningxia ex situ poverty alleviation and relocation to help readers better understand the content of this study.
（3）What are the relevant theories that you are referring to (page 2)
In this regard, the main theories used in this paper include employment theory, satisfaction theory, social adaptability theory and human capital theory,
（4）Since you focus on fulltime employment you should put some reference on the detrimental effects of part-time jobs and unstable employment on workers’ well-being (page 3)
This is the focus of our future research.
（5）We could explain in a footnote what is the Dibao policy (page 5)
On this point, we have added a page bet to the text（P6）
[1] Dibao policy：The minimum living allowance policy refers to the social assistance system in which the per capita income of the family members living together is lower than the local minimum living allowance standard or meets the per capita disposable income standard of the expenditure poor family, and the government guarantees that the per capita income of their families reaches the local minimum living allowance standard in the form of monetary subsidies.
（6）a close relationship between this form of adaptability and sex (needs also a reference)
We will pay close attention to this in future research.
（7）According to Mincer (1958) and Becker (1964), human capital is made up of the knowledge, skills, and competencies that enable an individual to be more productive in the workplace. Thus I propose not to use the term subjective human capital but noncognitive human capital.
On this point, we are very willing to accept your suggestions. So far, there are many classifications of human capital. As labor migration is a special group, many people have formed the habit of "waiting for the waist" and "being lazy and slow" during the process of poverty alleviation in the past. Some people still haven't changed this phenomenon after arriving in urban communities. Their poor subjective initiative leads to their poor employment initiative, and thus their employment stability is relatively poor. Therefore, we believe that improving their subjective initiative in employment is an important aspect to solve their employment stability. Therefore, this paper uses "subjective human capital".
（8）Since those without a qualification make up more than half of your sample (illiteracy and primary school), I propose using gender and education as control variables in your econometric model. You could also address this issue in a subsequent study.
Thank you very much for your tips on this, which will also be one of the issues we attach great importance to in future research.
To sum up, thank you very much for your good comments and suggestions on this paper, especially for pointing out some meaningful directions for our future research.
Although not much is reflected in the text in the process of this revision, we have carefully combed and improved it, which has also improved the overall level of this article to a certain extent.
Thanks again!
Author Response File: Author Response.doc
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript has been imporoved following commnts and suggestions of referees.
Reviewer 3 Report
After the necessary changes, the paper can be accepted in its present form.
