Factors Affecting Employment Stability of Labor Immigration: Implications for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Effectively improving employment stability is the key to accelerating the sustainable development of Chinese-style labor migration. Based on a household questionnaire survey, combined with the characteristics of labor migrants, this study uses SEM to analyze the factors that affect the employment stability of labor migrants. The results show that the data fit the model well, and all the hypotheses proposed in this study are supported. The factors affecting the employment stability of labor migrants are threefold: relocation satisfaction is the premise, relocation adaptability is the key, and subjective human capital-dedicated status is the foundation. Observed variables that have a significant impact on latent variables are also explored. The main survey results show that labor migrants have high relocation satisfaction and relocation adaptability, and subjective human capital and employment status are relatively low. According to the research results, measures are put forward to further improve the employment stability of labor migrants.

1. Introduction

Stable employment is not only one of the macro-control objectives of the global economy (full employment) but also an important way to effectively remove vulnerable groups from poverty.

Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) formally introduced the concept of sustainable development to the international community in 1978, countries have been exploring and practicing it, and a consensus was reached at the UNCED in 1992 and the UN Conference on Population and Development in 1994, both putting special emphasis on “people at the center of sustainable development” and a “People-oriented concept of sustainable development” [1]. In 2003, China also proposed the scientific concept of development, the core of which is “people-centered” and “comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development” [2]. The relocation of the poor from 2001 to 2020 is a typical example of “people-centered sustainable development” [3]. On the one hand, the relocation of poor people who are not suitable for survival and development are relocated to areas with good development conditions to offer them the basis for sustainable development, and on the other hand, poor people are helped by various social sectors to obtain a guarantee of sustainable development. 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. In this paper, we call the migrants who relocate to urban communities for poverty alleviation “labor migrants”.

Academic circles roughly classify “labor migrants” into three categories: The first category is the skilled international migrants, including domestic and cross-border skilled labor migrants. The second category generally refers to migration from rural communities to cities in China. These groups seek jobs and increase their income in the community; the first two categories refer to the economic immigration behaviors of labor migrants themselves, according to marketization trends and their own preferences. The third category refers specifically to the Chinese-style labor migration studied in this paper.

Chinese-style labor migration means that, in order to effectively solve the problem of absolute poverty in the region, we must set up relevant government departments, through administrative means, under the premise of providing certain employment security, housing security, social security, etc. The population is relocated in a planned and step-by-step manner to urban communities with good regional environments and more development opportunities, which are formed by rapid poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

During the period from 2016 to 2020, to solve the problem of contiguous absolute poverty in the region, the Chinese government invested CNY 600 billion, relocated nearly 10 million absolutely poor people, and built about 35,000 centralized resettlement areas, including more than 5000 urban resettlement areas, thus resettling more than 5 million people.

Ningxia is one of the provinces and regions that has taken the lead in implementing a labor immigration model based on job placement in China since 2011. Through continuous efforts, labor immigrants have not only escaped absolute poverty but also improved their income levels, housing conditions, and mental outlook. This represents a great improvement. However, due to the impact of the macroeconomic situation and personal factors, the employment problem of migrant workers is becoming a severe challenge, giving rise to difficult and unstable employment. Whether we can achieve stable employment and improve employment stability has become the key to the sustainable development of labor-immigrant individuals, labor-immigrant communities, and labor-immigrant models.

Relatively speaking, the Chinese-style labor migrants studied in this paper are a disadvantaged group with generally low cultural quality, relatively low labor skills (mainly primary industry and manual labor), relatively low sustainable development abilities, and weak (in absolute poverty) and relatively weak social adaptability. In the process of relocation, it is necessary to increase support and care, especially in the context of one of the most important factors affecting sustainable development—employment stability. Only by achieving full and stable employment and effectively increasing income can we achieve sustainable development.

This study focuses on the impact mechanism of labor migrants’ employment stability. The key question to be addressed is how labor migrants can be taken from relatively closed and underdeveloped rural communities into relatively open and developed urban communities and how they can achieve stable employment and effectively increase their income. The employment stability of labor migrants is a very complex systematic issue, which not only involves the evaluation of labor migrants’ satisfaction with relocation, including policy support satisfaction, community development satisfaction, and development environment satisfaction, etc. but also involves labor migrants’ self-esteem. The adaptability to urban life, including economic adaptability, cultural adaptability, etc., also involves labor migrants’ evaluation of their own subjective human capital, including work attitude and professionalism.

Based on the relevant theories and previous research results, this paper attempts to put forward relevant research hypotheses and frameworks on the impact mechanism of Chinese-style labor migration on employment stability. We collect data by means of a questionnaire survey and test various research hypotheses, so as to explore the specific paths by which variables such as relocation satisfaction, relocation adaptability, and subjective human capital affect the employment stability of labor migrants, as well as the relationship between the effects of each path.

This paper hopes to solve the following problems in the employment stability of labor immigrants through the construction of structural equation models: (1) to analyze the variables and their paths that affect the employment stability of labor immigrants; (2) to construct a theoretical model of the mechanism of employment stability of labor immigrants.

2. Literature and Hypotheses

2.1. Literature Review

The evaluation indicators of employment stability in academia tend to be diverse, and the representative ones include workers’ job tenure, current job retention rate [4], working hours, tenure duration [5], employment tenure and turnover rate [6], employment change rate, employment elasticity coefficient, the ratio of final employment rate to base period employment rate, employment time change rate [7], turnover rate [8], Promotion [9]. Scholars have also analyzed the factors that affect employment stability. Work relationship, economic status, and personal characteristics are the three factors of employment stability [10]; Job satisfaction and turnover intention are negatively correlated [11]; The continuous updating of social technology will directly lead to a decrease in employment stability [12,13]; This is mainly driven by employment flexibility policies [14]; The stability of employment positions and labor relations is the basic demand of laborers in employment [15].

From the literature review, we see that most of the previous studies are based on the work itself and the experience of the labor force. The measurement is mainly based on the “term length”, “retention rate”, “turnover rate”, etc. The influencing factors are mainly “personal characteristics”, “work relationship”, “economic environment”, etc., and these are the key areas of interest for this paper.

Combining the previous research results and the practice of labor migration in Ningxia, according to the needs of the literature review and research, the employment stability of this paper refers to the fact that individuals can obtain relatively stable income through employment within a certain period, and they can maintain a certain level of family life and employment. The self-evaluation of the conversion status between non-employment and employment is manifested as a kind of intention and tendency. We propose to evaluate the employment stability, employment policy satisfaction, and employment environment satisfaction of labor migrants.

2.2. Hypotheses Analysis

2.2.1. The Relationship between Relocation Satisfaction and Employment Stability

Public satisfaction with 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 Gregg. Van Ryzin [16]. The evaluation of services provided by labor migrants to their communities has an important impact on their employment stability.

There is an old Chinese saying—”Live and work in peace and contentment” [17], which means that you can be satisfied with your work only if you live a stable life. This shows that there is a close relationship between a good living environment and employment stability. Labor migrants are a special vulnerable group who have been subjected to a long-term bad ecological environment and significant poverty problems. Only the government, on the premise of providing assistance, including housing security, social security, employment services, etc., can relocate them in a planned and step-by-step manner. If we get rid of the original environment, we can quickly get rid of poverty. The practice has proven that those who have been relocated have initially achieved their expected goals, and so labor migrants have been satisfied with the help provided by the government.

Relocation satisfaction refers to the subjective evaluation between the expected value and the actual feeling of labor migrants after entering the labor migrant community. Relocation satisfaction is a comprehensive index system. This study intends to evaluate the relocation satisfaction of labor migrants in three dimensions: policy support satisfaction (PS), community development satisfaction (CS), and development environment satisfaction (DS). Policy support satisfaction (PS) includes a satisfaction evaluation of medical insurance policy, pension policy, subsistence allowance policy, and financial policy; community development satisfaction (CS) includes public security environment, cadre–group relationship, and management satisfaction; development environment satisfaction (DS) includes the satisfaction evaluation of educational environment, medical environment, and ecological environment.

Since moving into a new environment, seeking to achieve stable poverty alleviation and sustainable development, the most prominent problem faced by labor migrants is full and stable employment. Regarding the relationship between the relocation satisfaction of labor migrants and employment stability, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H1. 

There is a positive correlation between the relocation satisfaction of labor migrants and employment stability.

2.2.2. The Relationship between Relocation Adaptability and Employment Stability

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, both psychological and economic adaptation [18], psychological adaptation [19], and those with high cultural similarity were more likely to integrate into local society [20]. The level of social adaptability of labor migrants also has a very important impact on their employment stability.

“Survival of the fittest, natural selection” is a concise summary of the ancient Chinese people’s ability to adapt to people and things—that is, people or things that can adapt to various environments and their changes are likely to encounter the opportunity to survive and develop, indicating good social adaptability and employment stability. There is also a close relationship between this form of adaptability and sex. From a relatively closed, limited development environment that naturally engages in primary industry, labor migrants enter into a relatively open and advanced new development environment that actively engages in the secondary and tertiary industries. This is a huge improvement.

Relocation adaptability refers to the process by which, after labor migrants are relocated, their individual concepts and behaviors change with the changes in the social environment in order for them to adapt. This study intends to evaluate the relocation adaptability of labor migrants from two dimensions: economic adaptability and cultural adaptability. Economic adaptability includes the adaptability evaluation of income mode, employment mode, and consumption mode. Cultural adaptability includes the adaptability evaluation of the language environment, relationship with local people, and social interaction mode.

The issue of adaptation has always been urgent in the context of the sustainable development of labor migrants, including the attitude and aspects of adaptation. Only by continuously improving economic adaptability can labor migrants truly live and work in peace and contentment. Regarding cultural adaptability, stronger adaptability has the opposite effect on employment stability because more employment opportunities can be obtained, resulting in relatively low employment stability. In view of the relationship between labor migrants’ relocation adaptability and employment stability, the following assumptions are put forward:

H2. 

There is a positive correlation between the economic adaptability of labor migrants and employment stability.

H3. 

There is a negative correlation between the cultural adaptability of labor migrants and employment stability.

2.2.3. The Relationship between Subjective Human Capital and Employment Stability

Human capital is represented by the knowledge, skills, experience, and health that people have [21]. With the development of society, people pay more attention to objective human capital, with “education, health, and skill training” [22] as the core, as well as to subjective human capital in terms of “emotion, ability”, indicating that subjective human capital plays an extremely important role in employment stability. Although the government provides certain employment opportunities for labor migrants at the beginning of their relocation, whether they can truly obtain stable employment and a stable source of income depends on the level of human capital they themselves have, especially in terms of subjective human resources.

Subjective human capital [23] refers to the evaluation of labor migrants’ mental states and subjective qualities, such as willpower, conscious rationality, success motivation, planning awareness, risk awareness, and effort level, which they show in various social activities. This study intends to evaluate the degree of dedication in the employment process shown by labor migrants, including the evaluation of labor migrants’ ability to overcome difficulties, learn new knowledge, work in an orderly manner, and achieve success in their work process.

Of course, due to the low level of objectivity in the assessment of human capital, labor immigration can only be activated in industries with low technical requirements, a poor working environment, and low-income levels, mainly including manual labor, construction, catering, etc., as well as some public welfare positions provided by the government, such as cleaners, security guards, etc. Therefore, whether a relatively stable income can be obtained depends on the subjective human capital related to whether labor migrants are willing to be employed and whether they are able to stabilize their employment. In view of the relationship between the subjective human capital of labor immigration and employment stability, the following assumption is put forward:

H4. 

There is a positive correlation between the subjective human capital level of labor migrants and employment stability.

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.

According to the principle of the structural equation model, this paper constructs a structural equation model for the factors affecting the employment stability of labor migration, as shown in Figure 1.

3. Design

3.1. Scale and Questionnaire Design

The scales used in this study are based on the existing relevant literature, combined with the specific theory and practice of labor migration in Ningxia, and adjusted and modified according to the actual situation of the surveyed area and the needs of the research. 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 about 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. All constructs are measured on a five-point Likert scale, and the possible answers are “Very satisfied”, “Satisfied”, “Neutral”, “Dissatisfied”, and “Very dissatisfied”, with corresponding scores of 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 [24]. Each latent variable and its observed variables’ indicators are shown in

Table 1. Summary of research variables and observed variables.

Latent Variable	Observed Variable
Relocation satisfaction (RS)	Policy support satisfaction (PS)	PS1	My satisfaction with the pension policy is
		PS2	My satisfaction with the Dibao policy is
		PS3	My satisfaction with the financial policy is
		PS4	My satisfaction with the health insurance policy is
	Community management satisfaction (CS)	CS1	My satisfaction with the law and order situation in the community is
		CS2	My satisfaction with the status of the community cadres is
		CS3	My satisfaction with the state of community management is
	Development environment satisfaction (DS)	DS1	My satisfaction with the medical environment in my area is
		DS2	My satisfaction with the educational environment in my area is
		DS3	My satisfaction with the ecological environment in my area is
Relocation adaptability (RA)	Economic adaptability (EA)	EA1	My suitability for income approach is
		EA2	My adaptation to consumption style is
		EA3	My fitness for employment is
	Cultural adaptability (CA)	CA1	My adaptation to local social interaction is
		CA2	The fitness of my relationship with the natives is
		CA3	My adaptation to the locale is
Subjective human capital (HP)	Engagement Status (HP)	HP1	My assessment of my ability to overcome difficulties at work is
		HP2	My evaluation of my ability to learn new knowledge at work is
		HP3	My evaluation of my ability to work in an orderly manner at work is
		HP4	My assessment of my ability to be successful at work is
Employment stability (ES)	Employment stability (ES)	ES1	My assessment of my current employment stability is
		ES2	My assessment of the employment status of my family members is
		ES3	My assessment of my employment environment is

.

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 2000; 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. Sample demographic data.

Characteristic	Range	Frequency	Percentage
Gender	male	176	48.9
	female	184	51.1
Age	≤29	68	19.9
	30–49	211	58.6
	≥50	81	22.5
Immigration time	2011–2015	91	25.3
	2016–2020	269	74.7
Monthly salary (CNY)	≤2000	194	53.9
	2000–3000	103	28.6
	3000–4000	42	11.7
	4000–5000	14	3.9
	≥5000	7	1.9
Education	illiteracy	131	36.4
	primary school	70	19.4
	junior high school	85	23.6
	high school	42	11.7
	college	18	5.0

.

4. Results

4.1. Reliability and Validity Test

For the fitting of general models, different scholars have given different critical values related to sample sizes. For example, Hou Jietai et al. (2004) believed that the minimum sample size should be more than 200, and Rigdon believed that the minimum sample critical value for SEM fitting was 150. The effective sample size of this survey is 360, which meets the sample conditions estimated by the structural equation model.

4.1.1. Reliability Analysis

SPSS 25.0 was used to test the internal consistency of the questionnaire item data. The reliability analysis showed that the total Cronbach’s α value of the overall scale reached 0.919, indicating good overall reliability; the Cronbach’s α values of the seven constructs were all greater than 0.70. Standard, indicating that the questionnaire used in the study and the collected sample data have better reliability.

4.1.2. Validity Analysis

(1)

Construct validity

KMO measurement and Bartlett sphericity tests [25] were performed on the questionnaire data. The KMO value obtained from the processing result was 0.893, which is greater than the standard value of 0.7, indicating that the questionnaire had good structural validity. There is a correlation between variables, and there is also a significant correlation between the scale and the sample data. The questionnaire data meet the requirements of the EFA analysis.

To further analyze the data, the principal component analysis method was used for factor extraction, and factor analysis was performed by using the maximum variance orthogonal rotation for factor rotation. According to the research needs, seven factors were extracted. The eigenvalues of the seven factors before rotation were 8.013, 2.331, 1.756, 1.287, 1.086, 1.043, and 0.798, and one of them was less than 1; after the rotation, the eigenvalues of the seven factors were all greater than 1, and were 3.011, 2.522, 2.412, 2.190, 2.165, 2.018 and 1.996; the variance explained rate values of the seven factors were 13.093%, 10.966%, 10.486%, 9.522%, 9.412%, 8.773%, and 8.676%, respectively, and the cumulative variance explained rate after rotation was 70.929 > 50%. We performed factor analysis on the subscales of each construct. There are usually two criteria to determine the construct validity. One is that the factor load of each measurement item is greater than the standard value of 0.5, and the other is that the cross-load value is less than 0.4. The results of this study meet these two criteria, indicating that each structure has a single dimension, and the validity of the scale structure is good.

(2)

Introverted and discriminant validity

Based on the construct validity test, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out on the overall data using AMOS25.0. The model diagram was drawn to import the data, and the calculation was performed. The obtained model fits the data well. Correction can improve the relevant index parameters, and the results after the model correction are shown in Figure 2.

The results of confirmatory factor analysis show that the standard load coefficient between each measurement item and its measured potential variables, variation extraction amount (AVE), and combination reliability (CR) are greater than their corresponding standard values of 0.60, 0.50 and 0.70 (as shown in

Table 3. Discriminant validity: Pearson correlation and AVE, CR.

	AVE	HP	PS	ES	EA	CS	DS	CA	CR
HP	0.621	0.788							0.867
PS	0.509	0.371	0.713						0.805
ES	0.524	0.363	0.485	0.724					0.767
EA	0.665	0.326	0.441	0.624	0.815				0.856
CS	0.550	0.226	0.540	0.430	0.385	0.741			0.785
DS	0.554	0.259	0.549	0.437	0.362	0.502	0.745		0.787
CA	0.507	0.337	0.459	0.376	0.470	0.451	0.475	0.712	0.755

), indicating that the measured variables can effectively reflect the characteristics of each potential variable. There is good consistency among the results; that is, each factor showed a good aggregation effect.

(3)

Discriminant validity

In the calculation results (as shown in Table 3), the triangular area is the standardized correlation coefficient between constructs, and the diagonal line is the arithmetic square root of the AVE of each construct [26]. Since the square root of the AVE of all potential variables is greater than the absolute value of the correlation coefficient corresponding to this variable and other variables, the questionnaire and sample data in this study have good discriminant validity.

4.2. Model Fitting

The fitting degree is shown in

Table 4. Fitting degree of AMOS-modified model.

Model Fitting Index	Optimal Standard Value	Statistical Value	Fitting Condition
CMIN	-	360.263	-
DF	-	214	-
CMIN/DF	<3	1.683	good
GFI	>0.9	0.923	good
AGFI	>0.9	0.901	good
RMSEA	<0.08	0.044	good
NFI	>0.9	0.910	good
TLI	>0.9	0.954	good
CFI	>0.9	0.961	good
IFI	>0.9	0.962	good
PNFI	>0.5	0.770	good
PCFI	>0.5	0.813	good

. Each fitting index reached the general research standard [27], implying that this model has a good degree of fit.

After deriving the descriptive statistics of the seven latent variables, the absolute values of the kurtosis coefficients of the obtained variables were all less than the reference value of 7.0. AMOS 25.0 was used to draw the theoretical model, and the modified residual covariation relationship was added to the calculation. The model was estimated by the maximum likelihood method and then revised to obtain the structural equation model (see Figure 2). The revised structural equation fitting results show that the CMIN/DF value is 1.683, which is less than the standard (below 3). The GFI, AGFI, NFI, TLI, IFI, and CFI all reached the standard of more than 0.9, and the RMSEA was 0.044, which is less than 0.08. The combined indicators all meet the requirements of research, indicating that the model-fitting results are good.

4.3. Regression Test

The path coefficient is the regression coefficient between potential variables, reflecting the change degree of other variables caused by the change of one potential variable. The results are shown in

Table 5. Model path normalization coefficient estimation.

			Estimate	Standardized Estimate	SE	CR
ES	<---	HP	0.135 *	0.115	0.064	2.102
ES	<---	RS	0.646 ***	0.525	0.143	4.527
ES	<---	EA	0.582 ***	0.576	0.076	7.637
ES	<---	CA	−0.389 **	−0.260	0.152	−2.563

Note: * p < 0.05. ** p < 0.01. *** p < 0.001.

. AMOS can also calculate the CR value of the path. The calculation method is to take the parameter estimated value and the ratio of standard deviations; when the p-value indicating significance is less than 0.01, the path coefficient is significantly different from 0 at the 95% confidence level.

For the various influencing factors of labor migration employment stability (ES), the path coefficient analyses between latent variables are shown in Table 5.

In the hypothesis test of the structural equation model, the standardization of all paths reached a significance level of more than 0.05, indicating that the estimated value of the path coefficients is valid; that is, the following hypotheses in this study can be verified.

Subjective human capital has a significant positive effect on ES (β = 0.115, p = 0.036 < 0.05), implying that H4 holds. Relocation satisfaction has a significant positive effect on employment stability (β = 0.525, p < 0.01), implying that H1 holds. Economic adaptability has a significant positive effect on employment stability (β = 0.576, p < 0.01), implying that H2 holds. Cultural adaptation has a significant negative effect on employment stability (β = −0.260, p = 0.010 < 0.05), implying that H3 holds.

Relocation satisfaction (RS), economic adaptability (EA), and subjective human capital (HP) all show a significant positive correlation with the employment stability (ES) of labor migrants, and the order of their impact is economic adaptability (EA) 0.576, relocation satisfaction (RS) 0.525, and subjective human capital (HP) 0.115. Cultural adaptability (CA) shows a significant negative correlation with the employment stability (ES) of labor migrants, and the path coefficient is −0.260.

5. Conclusions and Discussion

5.1. Conclusions

The investigation of factors affecting employment stability helps to achieve effective communication between labor migrants and the government, thus helping to solve the problems with the employment stability of labor migrants. From August to September 2020, this study conducted a household questionnaire survey on three labor immigration bases in Yinchuan City and obtained 360 valid questionnaires. The structural equation model constructed in this study includes policy support satisfaction (PS), community development satisfaction (CS), development environment satisfaction (DS), economic adaptability (EA), cultural adaptability (CA), engagement status (HP) and employment stability (ES), with seven latent variables and 23 observed variables. Cronbach for all potential variables α All values were >0.7, indicating that the scale had high reliability, and the results of EFA and CFA also showed good effectiveness. The path coefficient analysis between potential variables shows that all assumptions are supported. The effects between latent variables show that subjective human capital (HP), relocation satisfaction (RS), economic adaptability (EA), and cultural adaptability (CA) all have a direct impact on employment stability (ES).

In addition, the three main findings of this study are as follows:

(1)

Relocation adaptability (RA) is the key to improving the employment stability (ES) of labor migrants.

Although both economic adaptability (EA) and cultural adaptability (CA) have very significant effects on the employment stability of labor migrants, they are diametrically opposed. Economic adaptability (EA) has the most positive impact, while cultural adaptation (CA) has the most negative impact. Only by continuously improving “employment mode adaptability” can labor, migrants, obtain more employment opportunities and then obtain a stable source of income and adapt to local consumption patterns, which is the material basis for improving their employment stability (ES). At the same time, only by continuously improving their “adaptability to the language environment” can labor, immigrants, gain more opportunities for social interaction, promote harmonious relations with locals, and enhance their ability to survive and develop. This is the cultural basis for improving the employment stability (ES) of labor immigrants;

(2)

Relocation satisfaction (RS) is the means to improve the employment stability (ES) of labor migrants.

Policies are the means countries around the world usually use to solve specific problems, and they often play a very important role in the employment stability of labor migrants. The policy support satisfaction (PS) path coefficient is as high as 0.848; the development environment satisfaction (DS) is as high as 0.803, and the community development satisfaction (CS) also reaches 0.781. On the one hand, this shows their importance to employment stability; on the other hand, they are also the result of policy support. Only through policies can we effectively solve various issues involving the vital interests of labor migrants, including pensions for the elderly (pension policy PS1), medical insurance for the unhealthy (medical insurance policy PS4), and minimum living guarantees for vulnerable groups (subsistence allowances policy PS2), etc. Further, we can effectively create or improve the environments required for the sustainable development of labor immigrant communities, including a medical environment that can ensure people’s physical and mental health (DS1), a fresh and clean environment (DS3), and an educational environment that can meet people’s expectations for the future (DS2). At the same time, the same is true for community development (CS)—only by constantly improving policies and strengthening policy support can we continue to maintain harmony between cadres and the masses and thus improve the level of social security and community management for labor migrants.

(3)

Individual engagement status (HP) is the basis for improving the employment stability of labor migrants.

In the system of factors affecting employment stability, labor migrants are always in an active position, given their awareness of the importance and urgency of employment issues and their emphasis on work initiatives, planning, and enthusiasm. Only by actively increasing employment can we obtain stable incomes and increase family income; only by actively working and completing various tasks can we achieve self-worth, gain more income, and increase the sense of gain. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the guidance offered to the subjective human capital of labor immigrants, especially to enhance their “self-confidence”, “initiative”, and “enthusiasm” in their work, thereby enhancing the “stability” of labor immigrants.

As the conclusion shows, there are many stakeholders and influencing factors involved in employment stability. This study conducted a special survey on the typical labor migration base in Yinchuan City by means of questionnaires. In order to reduce problem projects and promote data collection, simple multidimensional processing is carried out. In addition, these conclusions also have certain limitations. More relevant research should be carried out in the future. The first step is to compare and analyze the factors of employment stability of labor migrants in different regions; the second is to consider the changes and influencing factors affecting the employment stability of labor migrants in different periods. Further, develop employment stability research methods based on big applied data to produce more objective results.

5.2. Discussion

Chinese-style labor migration is the organized and planned relocation of poor people from areas with extremely fragile ecological environments and extremely poor living conditions to areas with relatively better development conditions via the support and guarantee of policies in an attempt to achieve an effective solution to the problem of poverty. Attempting to design an immigration policy that will reduce poverty and increase wealth is typical government behavior. Therefore, the policy has played an important role, which is embodied in various aspects. It plays an important role in the development of the communities where labor migrants are located, the development environments of the areas where labor migrants plan to work, and the development of labor migrants themselves and their families.

This shows that “relocation satisfaction” is the primary factor affecting the employment stability of labor migrants. That is to say, “relocation satisfaction” is the basis of “employment stability”, which is in line with China’s traditional concept of “living in peace” and “working happily”. The influence coefficients of policy support satisfaction (PS) and community development satisfaction (CS) on relocation satisfaction (RS) are very large, both reaching over 0.8. The environment that needs to be improved the most is the medical environment, which affects people’s physical and mental health, and the policies that need to be improved the most are pension policies, medical insurance policies, and subsistence allowance policies, which affect everyone’s vital interests. We must improve the level of social security and community management for labor migrants.

However, the results of the study were somewhat unexpected. The effects of the two aspects of relocation adaptability (RA) on employment stability showed diametrically opposite results. On the one hand, economic adaptability (EA) showed the highest path coefficient of 0.576, followed by employment stability (ES), which was 0.051 higher than relocation satisfaction (RS) and higher than subjective human capital (HP) at 0.461. This shows that it is not enough to only address the “settlement” of labor immigrants, and the economic adaptability (EA) of labor immigrants must be improved; on the other hand, cultural adaptability (CA) affects the employment stability (ES) of labor immigrants. It ranks in the middle, and its path coefficient is −0.260, which implies a negative correlation. This shows that labor migrants already have strong cultural adaptability (CA), integrate into the local society, have extensive interpersonal relationships, and have more opportunities to find jobs. Driven by the motivation to “make money freely”, they are often in a state of “unstable employment”, which seriously restricts their ability to improve their employment stability (ES). Therefore, we must urgently consider how to take advantage of the strong cultural adaptability (CA) of labor migrants to improve their employment stability.

Both aspects of relocation adaptability (RA) are very important. On the one hand, economic adaptability (EA) operates at the material level, and material factors determine consciousness; that is, it is necessary to effectively solve the problem of employment mode adaptation to ensure relatively stable sources of income and then ensure the adaptation of the consumption mode. On the other hand, cultural adaptability (CA) functions at the spiritual level, and consciousness has an adverse effect on the material; that is, we must effectively enhance adaptability to the language environment in order to continuously improve social interaction ability, thereby promoting harmonious coexistence and common development with local people. Therefore, relocation adaptability (RA) is the key to improving employment stability (ES).

Comparatively speaking, the influence of subjective human capital–engagement status (HP) on employment stability (ES) is small, and the path coefficient is only 0.115, but this does not mean that its status and role are not important. This is because, in real life, labor migrants lack some of the basic literacy required for employment in some cities, cutting off some jobs that can earn them a stable income, as well as access to longer working hours in a certain unit and higher income levels. Through hard work, one can attain a higher income, and the most important thing is the improvement of professional status. In improving the subjective human capital of labor migrants, the level of engagement (HP) is the basis for improving employment stability (ES).

The research on the employment stability of labor migrants in this topic is carried out according to the traditional Chinese concepts of “living and working in peace and contentment” and “survival of the fittest”. There are significant differences in different research results, such as those regarding whether to sign a labor contract, which is affected by the labor migrants’ own subjective evaluation of their relocation satisfaction, which affects their employment stability, relocation adaptability, and their own dedication.

The research results not only provide a new way of thinking in evaluating the employment stability of government labor migrants—that is, building an evaluation system of “satisfaction–adaptability–subjective human capital–employment stability”—but also offer ways for the government to improve the employment stability of labor migrants.

5.3. Implications

Policies and methods for solving problems are always developed and improved through practice. Whether from the perspective of labor migrants, relevant government departments, or third-party organizations, we can summarize existing experiences and lessons to deal with new situations and new problems more successfully in the future.

The research results show that improving the employment stability of labor migrants not only depends on the efforts of relevant government departments towards the sustainable development of labor migrants, the improvement of service levels, and levels of satisfaction, but it also depends on the efforts of labor migrants themselves. This manifests in two aspects. On the one hand, it is necessary to continuously improve one’s adaptability to relocation, including economic adaptability, cultural adaptability, and social adaptability, and enhance social integration, which will enhance work stability. The specific recommendations are as follows:

(1)

Strengthen guidance and education to improve the social adaptability of labor migrants.

Through relocation, labor migrants have realized the transition from underdeveloped rural communities to developed urban communities, and they typically face the problem of “citizenization”—social adaptation. This requires, first, that relevant government departments increase education for labor migrants through lectures, exhibitions, visits, etc., to help them adapt to the various requirements of urban development as soon as possible, including understanding the characteristics of urban development, the relevant requirements for becoming a qualified citizen, etc. Second, labor migrants should adapt to the development requirements of citizenization as soon as possible according to their own characteristics, including realizing active employment according to the requirements of economic adaptability, effectively increasing income, and increasing income in accordance with the requirements of cultural adaptability. This will help to strengthen the communication with local people, expand the scope of communication, actively integrate them into the society, and achieve harmonious coexistence and harmonious development;

(2)

Actively innovate and improve policies to improve the relocation satisfaction of labor migrants.

The policy is the core of labor migrants’ relocation and stable employment experience. This requires, first, a comprehensive review of existing policies, summarizing experiences and lessons, consolidating policies with clear effects, and improving policies that have good effects but whose potential has not yet been fully realized. Second, we must face the new development environment and its requirements and innovate new policies that are conducive to the development of labor immigration, including labor immigration entrepreneurship policies, employment support policies, etc. The awareness and application of policies should be actively improved and innovated to meet real needs and achieve sustainable development;

(3)

Enhance self-confidence and consciousness and enhance the professionalism of labor migrants.

Whether we are considering objective human capital or subjective human capital, the labor immigrant group is relatively poor in these resources. Relatively speaking, it is more difficult to make a big improvement in objective human capital, while the improvement of subjective human capital can be more successful. Therefore, while the government continues to increase the training of employability, on the one hand, the government can enhance the self-confidence of labor migrants in stable employment by establishing advanced models and sharing successful cases. This will encourage them to actively participate in various skills training activities, achieve substantial improvements, take the initiative to achieve employment, show love and dedication to their work, and realize their self-worth. Doing so can not only help them to achieve stable employment and effectively increase their income but also make up for the lack of labor force in the enterprise, promote stable development, and help achieve symbiosis and common development;

(4)

Increase care and support to improve the employment stability of vulnerable groups in labor migrants.

Labor migrants themselves are a vulnerable group, and women are even more vulnerable than men. In the actual research, women generally express the view of “do not want to work if they have a job”. This is not only detrimental to the realization of women’s self-worth but also detrimental to family development and social development. Therefore, on the one hand, the government can set up special employment instructors to provide women with special psychological counseling and employment guidance to speed up their employment. Developing the concept of going out of the family and into society to achieve self-employment can help workers to achieve economic independence, effectively increase family income, lay a more solid material foundation for the development of families, provide more labor resources for society, and accelerate urbanization and the sustainable development of labor immigration bases.

5.4. Limitations

This article offers only a preliminary discussion of the factors affecting the employment stability of labor migrants. Although some progress has been made, there are still some shortcomings and some limitations that need to be further explored.

The employment stability of labor migrants is a problem that arises in a specific socio-economic context, and the solution to this problem involves complex stakeholders and social environments. When the government issues corresponding policies to solve a certain problem, there are often many stakeholders to consider. Specifically, because the government, labor migrants, and third-party agencies play different roles in the process of problem formation and resolution, they often make different demands according to their own interests, which will directly affect labor services. The needs of all should be considered as much as possible when designing a questionnaire to obtain more inclusive results. At the same time, there is a lack of specific ways to evaluate labor migrant-employing companies, including in terms of professionalism, obedience to management, and compliance with regulations. In addition, due to the different levels of economic development in different regions, the abilities of the governments to provide solutions to ensure the employment stability of labor migrants also differ, which may directly affect the effective solution to the problem. Therefore, the results of this study have limited practical applicability in solving the current employment stability problem of labor migrants, and more exploration is needed in relation to the current background and future trends. All of these approaches can add more dimensions to the questionnaire design, making the survey more targeted and practical.