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Article

Differences of Social Space of Rural Migrant Labor Force: The Influence of Local Quality

by
Shanshan Wu
1,
Libang Ma
1,2,3,*,
Lucang Wang
1,
Xianfei Chen
1 and
Zhihao Shi
1
1
College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
2
Key Laboratory of Resource Environment and Sustainable Development of Oasis, Lanzhou 730070, China
3
Northwest Institute of Urban-Rural Development and Collaborative Governance, Lanzhou 730070, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Land 2023, 12(3), 644; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12030644
Submission received: 5 February 2023 / Revised: 24 February 2023 / Accepted: 6 March 2023 / Published: 9 March 2023
(This article belongs to the Section Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions)
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Abstract

:
Exploring the spatial differentiation and driving mechanism of labor flow can effectively promote the flow of urban and rural factors and provide a basis for rural revitalization. This paper used the theory of push and pull for reference to explain the role of push and pull in the process of labor migration. On this basis, the paper analyzed the social space characteristics of labor in Longxi County and explored the impact mechanism of local quality on labor migration. It was found that the characteristics of labor migration in Longxi County had a distance attenuation effect and gravitational effect, and the spatial agglomeration of labor attributes was obvious. This was closely related to local quality differences. The labor migration was conducted under the comprehensive effect of the local quality of the source and destination. The local quality of the source was the basic power of the labor migration. The difference in the local quality between destinations was the main reason for the spatial difference in the number and attributes of the labor force. Specifically, the degree of interconnection and cooperation affected the labor migration distance, and the relatively poor employment income-generating capacity and regional livability in the western underdeveloped regions affected the labor quantity. The young and middle-aged labor force was greatly affected by the regional environment.

1. Introduction

With rapid urbanization and industrialization, the gap between rural and urban areas has gradually widened, which has mainly manifested in infrastructure allocation, scientific and technological development, residents’ living and cognitive level, especially in residents’ income [1]. In addition, there is a large surplus of the labor force with the improvement of agricultural technology. Under this background, the labor force flowed from rural areas to urban areas on a large scale [2,3]. In China, the economic development in rural areas is relatively backward, and the gap between urban and rural per capita disposable income is significant. Rapid urbanization has brought a large number of rural laborers to work in cities [4]. According to the statistics of census data in China, scholars found that the size and proportion of the working-age population aged 15–59 continued to decline. The age structure was further aging, and the population was significantly concentrated in the eastern region [5]. In 2021, the total number of migrant workers in China was 292.51 million with an increase of 2.4% over 2020. There were 171.72 million migrant laborers with an increase of 1.3%.1
Longxi County is located in the southeast of Gansu Province and in the middle of Dingxi City. The overall development of the region is relatively backward, the radiative driving effect is relatively weak, and its own development capacity is insufficient. In 2020, there were only 24 enterprises of scale or above, and the number of jobs that can provide a surplus labor force was limited. The surplus labor began to flow outward to obtain employment opportunities. Therefore, Longxi County can reflect the flow characteristics of rural labor in China relatively comprehensively. There are mainly two ways of labor flow: The first is that the surplus labor obtains employment information through various channels such as family and friends, news, etc. The second is the counterpart transmission through the employment support of the local government. Through various channels, Longxi County released 318 employment information, 24,624 positions, cultivated 10 labor agencies, and 215 labor leaders. By November 2021, a total of 137,500 rural labor force has been transferred.2 However, the choice of destination is affected by the local quality of income, consumption, employment opportunities, and so on, resulting in the spatial heterogeneity of the labor force [6,7]. Exploring the coordination relationship between the social spatial structure of the labor force and local quality and revealing the influence of local quality on the labor force is of great significance for improving the quality of the labor force going out for work in underdeveloped areas in western China, and providing a practical reference for realizing coordinated urban and rural development and rural revitalization.
Labor migration is a selection process between people and places. In spatial economics, spatial selection includes active selection and passive selection [8]. The selection process is affected by the local quality of the city, including the quantity, diversity, and quality of non-tradable goods in geographical space, specifically personal consumption services such as leisure and entertainment, public services such as education and medical treatment, artificial and natural ecological environment, transportation, information, institutional and other infrastructure [9]. With regard to the choice of the destination of labor migration, scholars believe that the differences in the socio-economic level, infrastructure, and other living environments of the labor source have an impact on the education level, cognitive ability, and other aspects of the labor force, further affecting the reception of employment information and travel convenience, which to a certain extent affects labor migration [10]. In addition, the main debate among scholars is the impact of the local quality of the destination city on the labor force. The impact of local quality effects such as urban income and consumption level on labor migration cannot be ignored [11,12]. The increase in economic income is the purpose of the migrant labor force. Areas with high income and low living costs are the preferred destinations for inflow places [13,14,15]. In terms of infrastructure, urban health care, and education have little impact on the willingness of the floating population to settle down [16]. Other studies show that the living environment has a more prominent impact on the labor force [17]. Regional air pollution level has a negative impact on labor force flow, which will affect the life satisfaction of the migrant labor force at the work site [18,19]. In the context of globalization, trade, and investment lead to differences in technological advancement among regions, leading to unequal development among regions [20]. Labor-intensive industrial sectors clustered in some regions will also attract more labor inflows [21]. In addition, the migration of population flows follows the law of distance decay, which is mainly constrained by distance friction. The distance friction is also restricted by time cost [22]. The development of transportation facilities can improve the level of employment, promote urban industrial agglomeration, increase employment opportunities, and attract the labor force [23,24].
In previous studies, scholars have emphasized the influence of destination local quality on the labor force, but the role of regional local quality in the process of labor force migration is relatively lacking. Based on this, this paper selected the western region, which can fully map the current situation of labor flow in China, to study the spatial differentiation of the labor force under the influence of local quality differences. In order to better explain the relationship between spatial differentiation of labor flow and local quality, this paper expressed local quality in terms of the degree of interconnection and cooperation, the capacity of employment and income generation, and regional livability. The specific approach is to draw lessons from the push and pull theory first, so as to clearly describe the push and pull effect between the city (destination) and the countryside (source) in the process of labor flow. Then, the social space of the labor force was classified by systematic cluster analysis from gender, age, industry, and income, and its heterogeneity was visually analyzed. Finally, the spatial dislocation analysis method was used to explore the social spatial structure of the migrant labor force in Longxi County and its coordination relationship with the destination local quality, and to reveal the influence of local quality on the different attributes of the labor force.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 is about labor flow under the action of push and pull, introducing the push and pull force between urban and rural areas in the process of labor flow. Section 3 is the method, explaining the data and method of empirical analysis. Section 4 is the result analysis, which reveals the social spatial heterogeneity of the labor force, and discusses the influence of local quality on the spatial difference of the labor force. Section 5 provides the conclusion of this paper.

2. Labor Migration under the Action of Push and Pull

The push-pull theory is the theory for analyzing the flow of population flow. Ravenstein first focused on the factors of the outflow area and believed that population flow was caused by poverty, natural disasters, and discrimination [25]. Later, Donald Borg proposed the push-pull theory of population flow and argued that population flow is the result of the combined action of the push force from the outflow area and the pull force from the inflow area [26]. This theory has been widely used in the study of population mobility. Based on the push and pull theory, this paper analyzed the push and pull effect in the process of labor migration from the perspective of rural and urban local quality, and believed that the push generated under the rural background is the driving force of labor migration, while the pull generated under the urban background is the cause of the spatial differentiation of labor force.
Under the influence of the local quality of the labor source, social factors play a role in the interaction between urban and rural areas, so as to improve the agricultural production efficiency in the labor source and form a sufficient surplus agricultural labor force. However, rural areas, as the source of the labor force, have slower social and economic development than urban areas, and agricultural income is still the main source of stable income for families [27]. The development of non-agricultural industries is relatively weak, which provides a limited number of local jobs [28]. In order to obtain higher income and seek a higher quality of life, most of the surplus labor force flows outward to seek employment opportunities, which forms the impetus of the source area [29]. For the labor force, whether the destination can realize the maximum benefit is the main concern [30]. If the industrial structure of the destination is biased towards non-agricultural industries, more employment opportunities will be provided accordingly, and the labor force is relatively easy to find jobs. In order to obtain high benefits, the labor force is more inclined to go to a destination with a relatively low cost of living [31]. At the same time, the characteristics of convenient transportation and a good living environment in the destination also attract the labor force [32]. The local quality of these destinations will exert a strong pull on labor migration.
In addition, it is found that the relationship between source and destination material and non-material had an impact on labor mobility. For example, high-speed rail not only reduces the distance in time and space but also brings resources and technology to the region and attracts labor mobility [33]. With the rapid development of the Internet, there are differences in the information received by different attributes of the labor force, resulting in the heterogeneity of mobility [34]. At the same time, labor migration will also produce heterogeneity due to subjective problems such as the labor force’s homesickness complex and social and cultural integration of the destination.
Therefore, the basic hypothesis of the study is that the labor flow is formed under the push and pull effect of rural (source) and urban (destination), and the social spatial difference of the outflow labor force is mainly affected by the quality of urban areas. Based on the pull force of the source and destination, the labor force decides whether to flow and where to flow by considering its own attributes (gender, age, psychological cognition, etc.), family attributes (the number of elderly and children in school, the status of cultivated land, etc.) and other main factors comprehensively. In this process, the labor force makes its own choice of destination. Due to the regional industrial structure, employment position, and other local quality differences, the quantity and quality of the labor force in each region will be different accordingly. The regions with different local qualities correspond to the labor force with different gender, age, occupation, income, and other social and economic differences, which can be mapped to the social space differences of the labor force.

3. Methods

In this paper, data were mainly from three sources, (1) Data on the migrant labor force in Longxi County: we conducted a 26 day field survey on population flow and migrant labor force in Longxi County twice in August and September 2021, and collected the attribute indicators of the migrant labor force in Longxi County in 2021, including the administrative villages, gender, age, industry, income and scope of employment; (2) China Statistical Yearbook 2021: Local quality indicators of 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government were obtained; (3) Map data: it was from the vector administrative boundary lines of China’s national boundaries of 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government and Gansu provinces, cities (prefectures) and counties, and comes from the official website of the standard map service system (http://bzdt.ch.mnr.gov.cn/, accessed on 1 December 2021).
When the data were processed, the characteristics of the personal attributes of the migrant labor force were classified after the data were processed. Age was divided into six stages. The new generation of migrant workers3 (under 21, 21–30, 31–41) are before the age of 41, and the non-new generation of migrant workers (42–50, 51–60, 60+) are after the age of 42. The income was divided into four grades, below 1000 yuan, 1001–2500 yuan, 2501–4000 yuan, and above 4000 yuan. Industries were classified according to the national economic industry classification GB/T4754-2021. This paper further divided the industries engaged in labor into the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries for analysis. Then, the number of employees in various industries of migrant workers in Longxi County was obtained. In addition, inconvenient industries such as “self-employment” appearing in the original data are classified as “other types of employees”.
Systematic cluster analysis is an important method to quantitatively analyze the geographical object classification and geographical division. This method has been widely used in urbanization quality zoning, urban development space zoning, and rural settlement territorial classification. In this paper, we used the systematic cluster analysis method to classify the social spatial types of the rural migrant labor force, identifying the differentiation characteristics.
According to the characteristics of multi-dimensional comprehensiveness and data availability of local quality, as well as the principles of comprehensiveness, purpose, scientificity, and operability of index selection, the following six indicators were selected to represent the local quality factors of source and destination that play a role in the process of labor flow (Table 1). This paper holds that the closer the distance between the source and the destination, the shorter the shortest direct arrival time and the easier the labor force flow. The higher the income of the origin (destination), the more jobs, convenient life, and good environment, the greater the attraction of the labor force and vice versa.
Spatial mismatch analysis can reveal the matching and coordination relationship between the two. Spatial mismatch analysis is mainly applied to the spatial dislocation analysis of employment and race [35]. This paper used spatial mismatch analysis to analyze the coordination relationship between the social spatial heterogeneity characteristics of the migrant labor force and local quality. By calculating the proportion of the total destination labor force and local quality index value in the corresponding total amount respectively, we used the quantile method to divide each proportion into three grades (named 1, 2, and 3, corresponding to low, medium and high grades, respectively). We named nine types of mismatch combinations with the naming method of “number grade-local quality grade”, and summarized six types of coordination relationships (Table 2).

4. Results

4.1. Basic Characteristics of Labor Force

4.1.1. Social Attribute Characteristics

From January to August 2021, 213 administrative villages in Longxi County (two administrative villages are included in the urban cadastral survey area, which was not considered in this paper) exported 121,853 laborers (55 people who went to Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan in China and abroad were not considered in this paper, so the sample in this paper was 121,798 people). The specific attributes of the migrant labor force are shown in Figure 1. There were 79,089 males and 42,709 females, and the ratio of male to female was 1.85:1. The migrant labor force was mostly male. The number of laborers with incomes of 2501–4000 yuan was the highest, accounting for 53.52%. The number of laborers with incomes of 1001–2500 yuan and above 4000 yuan was almost the same, accounting for 22.93% and 22.31%, respectively. The number of laborers below 1000 yuan was 1518, accounting for 1.24%. This indicates that normal distribution characteristics as a whole were in line with the characteristics of social and economic development. According to the above data processing process, the industries engaged were divided on the basis of existing data. The number of secondary industries and tertiary industries was almost the same, the number of primary industries was small, followed by the number of other types of employees. Among the sub-industries, the number of service industries, construction industries, and manufacturing industries was the largest, accounting for 83.21% of the total migrant labor. They were concentrated between 21–60 years old, and the largest number of laborers were aged 21–30. This indicates that with the increase in age, the labor force gradually decreases. The number of new-generation labor force below 41 was more than that of the non-new-generation labor force. The migrant labor force was mainly young and middle-aged people of the new generation.

4.1.2. Spatial Flow Characteristics

We used ArcGIS to conduct a visual analysis of the spatial distribution of the migrant labor force in Longxi County (Figure 2). The spatial distribution of the migrant labor force shows the pattern of a “two poles-circle”, indicating the distance attenuation effect and gravitational effect. The “two poles” refer to the eastern coastal areas and neighboring provinces in the western region, respectively. The “circle” refers to the gradual decline of the labor force around the “two poles”. In addition to the provinces close to Longxi County, under the gravitational effect of the rapid economic development in the southeast coastal areas, Shanghai also occupies an absolute advantage, followed by the eastern coastal areas and the provinces with better social and economic development, and the central, northeast and southwest regions far away from Gansu Province, where the labor force is relatively small and the circle structure is obvious.

4.2. Socio-Spatial Heterogeneity of Labor Force

4.2.1. Single Attribute Differences

By calculating the gender, age, industry, income, and export mode of the migrant labor force flowing into each province and the proportion of the total labor force in each province, we used ArcGIS to divide the proportion into three levels: high, medium, and low through the natural breaking point method (Figure 3). In terms of gender, males show long-distance mobility, especially in southwest and northeast China where the natural environment is relatively complex. While females show a distance attenuation effect centered in Gansu Province, with outflow proximity characteristics. However, economically developed areas in the eastern coastal areas also attract females strongly. In terms of age, the spatial distribution shows the characteristics of “outward expansion” of the new generation labor force and “inward contraction” of the non-new generation labor force. The labor force under 30 years old on the east side of the Hu Huanyong Line is more, especially in remote areas such as the Middle East. The outflow of the labor force aged 51 and above is more distributed in neighboring provinces. The labor force engaged in various industries shows the characteristics of agglomeration. There are more labor forces engaged in the primary industry in the north, more labor forces engaged in the secondary industry in the northeast, east, and southwest, and more labor forces engaged in the tertiary industry in the northeast, southwest, and northwest. The income of the labor force shows that the western region is mainly low-income with less than 2500 yuan, the central region is mainly middle-income with 2501–4000 yuan, and the eastern region and remote areas with a poor environment have a relatively high income.

4.2.2. Comprehensive Attribute Differences

We used Origin software to draw a heat map of the proportion of people in each province for each of the four attributes of the migrant labor force, as shown in Figure 4. Then, the overall pattern of the migrant labor force in each province was summarized. The spatial distribution of the migrant labor force from Longxi County to other provinces was consistent in gender and income. The migrant labor force was dominated by men in all provinces. The income was mostly 2500–4000 yuan. Therefore, these two attributes are no longer considered when analyzing and characterizing the comprehensive social space in the following sections. To better study the characteristics of the migrant labor force in each province, this paper removed the attribute stage with a small proportion of the number of people on the basis of the division of each attribute. The details are as follows. The number of migrant laborers engaged in the primary industry in each province was almost 0, and the number of people engaged in other industries was relatively small. Therefore, we only discussed the occupational characteristics of the migrant labor force based on the proportion of the number of people engaged in the secondary and tertiary industries in the following sections. The proportions of the migrant labor force below 21 years old and above 60 years old were low, and all other age groups had a certain proportion. Therefore, this paper divided the migrant labor force into the new generation (21–41 years old) and the non-new-generation labor force (41–60 years old).
According to the characteristics of the migrant labor force in each province and attributes, the relative characteristics of the industry and age were summarized. Used SPSS software to conduct cluster analysis on the age and industry in 31 provinces and cities, selected the clustering distance as 10, divided the social space of migrant labor force in Longxi County into four districts (Figure 5), and named them with the typical characteristics of each type of district. The specific characteristics are as follows: The secondary industry is a young and middle-aged area (hereinafter referred to as type I area). In terms of attributes, the migrant labor force in this area is mainly the new generation labor force, mainly engaged in the secondary industry, and the income is mostly 2500–4000 yuan. In terms of spatial distribution, the area is concentrated in the east of China, and scattered in the central and western areas, covering parts of the Yangtze River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration. The area includes 11 provinces and cities, the largest number of the four types of areas. Tertiary industry young and middle-aged area (hereinafter referred to as type II area). In terms of attributes, this area is mainly a middle and high-income area engaged in the tertiary industry, and the new generation of the labor force is the main force. In terms of spatial distribution, the area is mainly distributed in the central and western regions with Gansu Province as the core, and also in the northeast region. The region includes seven provinces, and the number ranks third among the four types of regions. Secondary industry mixed zone (hereinafter referred to as type III area). In terms of attributes, most of the migrant laborers are non-new generation, high-income groups engaged in the secondary industry. In terms of spatial distribution, this area is scattered, including Beijing, Shanghai municipalities, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The non-agricultural industry is a young and middle-aged area (hereinafter referred to as the type IV area). In terms of attributes, the area is dominated by the new generation, with middle-and high-income laborers engaged in the secondary and tertiary industries. In terms of spatial distribution, this area has a large distribution span, including the eastern, central, and western regions of China, including 10 provinces and cities. The income of migrant workers in the southern region is relatively high. Based on the above analysis, the new generation of the labor force is mostly distributed in the provinces east of the Hu Huanyong line, the labor force engaged in the secondary industry is mostly distributed in the eastern region, and the western region is mostly engaged in the tertiary industry, and the income of most provinces is 2500–4000 yuan.

4.3. The Influence Mechanism of Local Quality on Social Spatial Heterogeneity

4.3.1. Push of Local Quality of Source

For farmers, the impact of the quality of agricultural and rural development on the labor force cannot be underestimated. In terms of the degree of interconnection and cooperation, Longhai Railway and Lianhuo Expressway are interspersed. National Highway 316 and Provincial Highway 209 are the basis for the connection between towns and cities, with relatively few traffic lines and low traffic connectivity. At the same time, because Longxi County is located in the northwest inland of China, it is far away from the eastern region with high labor demand, and its geographical proximity is relatively poor. In terms of the capacity for employment and income generation, the non-agricultural industry in Longxi County is weak and developing slowly. The added value of the secondary and tertiary industries accounted for 81.13% of the regional gross domestic product, which was still far behind the national average of 90.43%. This showed that the economic development of Longxi County was relatively backward, and the non-agricultural industry was still weak. The corresponding number of jobs available was relatively small, and the surplus labor force cannot be digested in the region, so the employment attraction was weak. Agricultural production is to a large extent the most stable part of the local household income. However, as Longxi County is located in the loess hilly and gully region, most of the arable land is slope arable land, accounting for 88.15% of the total area of arable land. The mechanization of agricultural production is relatively difficult, coupled with the generally low level of farmers’ culture, leading to low agricultural production efficiency and weakening the value of the labor force. In 2020, the per capita disposable income of rural residents was 9781 yuan. There was a large gap with the national average value of 32,100 yuan. The living needs of residents were limited to a certain extent, and the income-generating power was relatively weak. In terms of regional livability, Longxi County’s total passenger traffic volume in 2020 was 162.7314 million, while the average passenger traffic volume in 31 provinces was 298.3123 million. There was a large gap between the internal commuting conditions and other regions, and the convenience of life was relatively poor. The participation rates of basic old-age and medical insurance for urban and rural residents reached 99% and 95%, respectively. There were 19 township health centers and community health service centers, and each administrative village had a health room. For administrative villages with a large number of residents, there was a relative shortage of medical resources. There were 86,214 students in school, with an illiteracy rate of 5.54%, which was far from the national illiteracy rate of 2.67%, indicating that education in Longxi County was still relatively weak and talent cultivation ability was weak. These all reflect that the livability of Longxi facilities was weak. In terms of the living environment, Longxi County, located on the Loess Plateau, has a fragile ecological environment, is prone to extreme weather such as sand and dust, dry climate, relatively low vegetation coverage, relatively extensive treatment of domestic garbage and sewage, and poor environmental livability.
The above aspects show that Longxi County still has a large gap compared with the national level in terms of the degree of interconnection and cooperation, the capacity of employment and income generation, and regional livability. Social and economic development capacity is limited, leading to the failure to maximize the value of the labor force and a relatively poor quality of life. On this basis, the labor force obtains the basic power of mobility, and it flows to other regions according to its own and family attributes to obtain rich benefits.

4.3.2. Pull of Local Quality of Destination

On the basis of the above analysis, this paper started with the local quality of the destination labor force and selects three aspects, namely the degree of interconnection and cooperation, the capacity of employment and income generation, and regional livability, to explore the coordination relationship between the destination local quality and the quantity and attribute of the labor force (Figure 6).
(1)
The relationship between local quality and labor force quantity
The degree of interconnection and cooperation: The coordination relationship between traffic connectivity and geographical proximity and the labor force shows that nearly half of the destination labor force flow is affected by traffic time and distance. In terms of space, the northeast and south are mainly coordinated, the center and east are mainly uncoordinated, and the western regions are mainly extremely uncoordinated, showing an obvious distance attenuation effect. The transportation cost of destinations farther away from Longxi County is larger, so the labor force is smaller, while the labor force in destinations closer to Longxi County is larger.
The capacity of employment and income generation: In terms of income generating capacity, the labor force is affected by income levels in nearly half of the destinations, particularly in the south, east, and northeast. The income level in the central and eastern parts of China is low, but the labor force is large, which is uncoordinated. While in the western region, the labor force is large and the per capita disposable income is small. In terms of employment attractiveness, 65% of the destinations are in coordination, which is mainly distributed in the eastern, central, and southern regions where the industrial structure is biased towards non-agricultural industries. While the western regions mainly show uncoordinated and extremely uncoordinated relations. On the whole, the eastern and southern regions show a coordinated relationship between the capacity of employment and income generation and the number of labor forces.
Regional livability: In terms of facility livability, more than half of the destinations appear uncoordinated, mainly in the southwest and western regions. While the coordinated areas are in the eastern, central, and southern regions, which are relatively easy to commute within and have a relatively large labor force. In terms of environmental livability, coordinated destinations are scattered in the east, central, and west regions, while uncoordinated destinations are mostly distributed in the southwest and east parts of the west and southwest regions. On the whole, the coordination relationship between regional livability and the labor force in western and southwestern regions is poor.
(2)
The relationship between local quality and labor force attributes
Make statistics on the proportion of coordination relationship among the four types of labor force social space (Table 3), and compare and analyze the difference in labor force social space coordination. In terms of the degree of interconnection and cooperation, the coordination proportion of the type II area is the highest, and that of the type III area is the lowest, which mainly shows that young and middle-aged labor engaged in the tertiary industry is affected by distance and time costs. In terms of the capacity of employment and income generation, the Type IV area has a good coordination relationship in terms of income generation, but a poor coordination relationship in terms of employment attraction. On the contrary, the Type I area has a good coordination relationship in terms of employment attraction, but a poor performance in terms of income-generating capacity. This shows that young and middle-aged workers engaged in non-agricultural industries pay more attention to income levels, while young and middle-aged workers engaged in secondary industries pay more attention to employment opportunities. In terms of regional livability, the four types of districts have poor coordination relationships in terms of facility livability, especially in the type III area. In terms of environmental livability, except for the type IV area, the overall performance is good, which shows that the facilities have less impact on the flow of non-young and middle-aged labor, while young and middle-aged labor have higher requirements on the environment. In general, the type I area has the best coordination in employment attractiveness, the type II area has the best coordination in the degree of interconnection and cooperation and environmental livability, type III area has the best coordination in the capacity of employment and income generation and environmental livability, and type IV area has the best coordination in traffic connectivity and income generating capacity.

4.3.3. Influence Mechanism

The formation of social spatial heterogeneity of the labor force is inseparable from the influence of local quality (Figure 7). First of all, the comprehensive effect of local quality in the source area forms the motive force of labor migration, which is the basis of the formation of labor spatial heterogeneity. In addition, the difference in local quality of destinations, to some extent, leads to the difference in the pull on the labor force, which makes the difference in quantity and attributes in space, and is the basis for the formation of spatial heterogeneity of the labor force.
(1)
The local quality of the source area is the basic power of labor migration, and the difference between the local quality of the source area and the local quality of the destination area forms a potential difference, which plays a comprehensive role and deeply affects the decision-making of labor migration. The saying “people go high” better reflects the most common phenomenon of labor migration at present, which is caused by the huge gap between the source and the destination, all of which stimulate labor migration. A higher income level in the destination is the fundamental purpose of labor force migration. More developed non-agricultural industries provide employment opportunities for the labor force. Convenient transportation and a livable environment are the fundamental guarantee of labor migration, which is the material basis that the source cannot provide. The resulting potential difference promotes labor migration to the destination.
(2)
The difference in local quality among destinations promotes the difference in labor quantity. In the process of labor migration, the degree of interconnection and cooperation between the source and destination will have the first impact on labor migration. Close distance and short transportation time will attract more labor, which is the basic condition for labor migration. On this basis, the income-generating capacity of employment among destinations will have a second impact on labor migration, which can improve the income level of labor and make the region more attractive for obtaining stable employment opportunities. This is the fundamental purpose of labor migration. For example, in the eastern coastal areas of China, where the economy is more developed, the secondary and tertiary industries are developed, and the port cities have convenient foreign trade, frequent circulation of goods, and a relatively large number of labor forces, while in the central and western regions, the number of labor forces is relatively small. Finally, livable living standards have the third impact on labor migration. Areas with convenient internal commuting and a better living environment can save more time for labor to relax and help relieve labor pressure, which is the living guarantee for labor migration. The three impacts have no order, and they affect each other, forming the difference in labor quantity between destinations. For example, when the employment income-generating capacity is stronger, the labor force will ignore the degree of interconnection and cooperation to a certain extent. For example, there are more labor forces in the eastern coastal areas of China.
(3)
The difference in local quality among destinations leads to the difference in social attributes of the labor force. The gender and age of the labor force will affect their ability to accept things. There are also differences in migration goals. Different local qualities correspond to different attributes of the labor force. For example, the migration distance of the non-new-generation labor force is relatively close, and they are mostly engaged in the secondary industry with relatively more manual labor, while the new-generation labor force has a strong ability to accept new things, a relatively long flow distance, and relatively small restrictions on engaging in industries. In terms of quality of life, the new generation of the labor force pursues a destination with relatively complete facilities to meet the needs of leisure and entertainment, while the old generation has low requirements for this.

5. Discussion and Conclusions

5.1. Discussion

This paper discussed the characteristics and driving mechanism of labor force flow in underdeveloped areas in western China and proved the hypothesis proposed in this paper. This study can be used as a microcosm to effectively reflect the flow characteristics of China’s labor force that is still concentrated in areas with relatively developed industries in the Middle East. However, this paper is relatively weak in the decision-making analysis of rural local quality on the “outflow” or “stay” of the labor force, and has not carried out a detailed quantitative model analysis. This paper believes that the decision of “outflow” or “stay” of the rural labor force is a complex process, which cannot be analyzed from one aspect alone. The labor force is subordinate to family and region and has social attributes. Its own cognition, family support, agricultural planting, regional development, and external environment will affect the flow decision [36]. After the labor force makes the decision of “outflow” or “stay”, it will inevitably bring a corresponding impact on rural and urban areas. If the labor force “outflows”, there will be hollowing, aging and other social phenomena in rural areas, which will affect the intensive use of rural space, and the development vitality is relatively insufficient, which may lead to the decline or even disappearance of rural areas [37]. For cities, on the one hand, it will promote the upgrading of the industrial structure of the labor force flowing out of cities and promote the development of new urbanization [38]. On the other hand, for the inflow of labor into cities, while achieving rapid development, there will be huge pressure on infrastructure such as transportation, housing, leisure, and even social isolation, which will hinder the social development of cities [39]. If the labor force “stays”, it is conducive to agricultural development in rural areas, and the planting structure may be biased towards food crops to ensure food security. Cities may face sluggish operation of secondary and tertiary industries, which will reduce urban production efficiency and quality of life. These problems may become a direction of future research.
At present, in the context of the integrated development of urban and rural areas in China, the free flow of urban and rural factors is very important. As one of the factors, the labor force should accelerate the improvement of the unified labor market between urban and rural areas, break the urban-rural barriers to labor flow, eliminate the institutional barriers to the flow of labor factors between urban and rural areas, and promote the two-way free flow of labor between urban and rural areas. At the same time, we should take measures in capital, technology, energy, and other aspects to promote the coordinated development of urban and rural areas, taking the labor factor as the main line [40]. In addition, we should promote the construction of new urbanization, optimize the labor structure on this basis, accelerate the labor flow to alleviate the problem of labor mismatch [41] and promote regional coordinated development.

5.2. Conclusions

Based on the theory of push and pull, this paper analyzed the social spatial characteristics of the labor force in Longxi County and their coordination with local quality. On this basis, this paper explored the impact mechanism of local quality on social spatial differences in the labor force. The specific conclusions were as follows:
(1)
There are significant differences in labor attributes, and the distance attenuation effect and gravity effect of mobility are obvious. Most of them were young and middle-aged labor force. Most of them were engaged in the secondary and tertiary industries, and their income was concentrated at 2500–4000 yuan. In space, they showed the distance attenuation effect and gravitational effect. The provinces closer to Longxi County and the eastern coastal developed areas had more labor force, while other regions had less.
(2)
Social spatial heterogeneity of labor force. The type I area is the secondary industry young and middle-aged areas are concentrated in the eastern region, covering 11 provinces and cities. The type II area is the tertiary industry young and middle-aged area, mainly distributed in the central and western regions, including seven provinces and cities. The type III area is the secondary industry mixed area, which is distributed dispersedly, and three provinces are classified into this category. The type IV area is the non-agricultural industry young and middle-aged area with a large spatial distribution span, including 10 provinces and cities in the east, middle, and west.
(3)
The local quality of the source and destination has a significant impact on the flow of labor. The local quality of the source mainly affects the driving force of labor flow. The local quality of the destination mainly affects the quantity and attribute of labor flow. In terms of the degree of interconnection and cooperation, the relationship with the labor force in the destination showed a distance attenuation effect. The coordination relationship with the attribution of labor force showed that the young and middle-aged labor force in the tertiary industry was strongly affected by time and distance costs. In terms of employment income generating capacity, the relationship with the labor force showed that the coordination of underdeveloped regions in the west was poor, while the coordination of regions with higher income levels in the east was good. In terms of attributes, the young and middle-aged labor force in non-agricultural industries paid more attention to income levels, and the young and middle-aged labor force in the secondary industry paid more attention to employment opportunities. In terms of regional livability, the coordination relationship with the labor force was poor in the west and southwest, and the young labor force was greatly affected by the regional environment.
(4)
Labor migration was carried out under the comprehensive effect of the local quality of the source and destination. The local quality of the source was the basic power of the labor migration. The local quality difference between destinations was the main reason for the spatial differences in the number and attributes of the labor force. Among them, the degree of interconnection and cooperation, the capacity of employment and income generation, and regional livability were the basic conditions, fundamental purposes, and living security of labor mobility.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, L.M. and L.W.; methodology, S.W.; software, S.W.; validation, S.W.; formal analysis, L.M. and X.C.; investigation, Z.S.; resources, L.M.; data curation, S.W.; writing—original draft preparation, S.W.; writing—review and editing, L.M.; visualization, S.W.; supervision, L.M.; project administration, L.M.; funding acquisition, L.M. and S.W. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant number 42271222; Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province, grant number 22JR5RA130; Science and Technology Program of Gansu Province, grant number 22JR5RA136; Department of Education of Gansu Province: Young Doctor Foundation Project, grant number 2022QB-040.

Data Availability Statement

The data are not publicly available due to requests from the local management authority.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Notes

1
Sourced from the 2021 Statistical Bulletin on the Development of Human Resources and Social Security.
2
Available online: https://www.gs.chinanews.com.cn/news/2021/11-11/345249.shtml (accessed on 1 January 2022).
3
Refer to the “Number, Structure and Characteristics of New Generation Migrant Workers” by the National Bureau of Statistics.

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Land 12 00644 g001 550
Figure 1. Overview of labor attributes.
Figure 1. Overview of labor attributes.
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Figure 2. Spatial distribution of labor migration.
Figure 2. Spatial distribution of labor migration.
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Figure 3. Spatial distribution of labor migration.
Figure 3. Spatial distribution of labor migration.
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Figure 4. Difference in the labor force among destinations.
Figure 4. Difference in the labor force among destinations.
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Figure 5. Social space for migrant labor force.
Figure 5. Social space for migrant labor force.
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Figure 6. Coordination between labor quantity and local quality.
Figure 6. Coordination between labor quantity and local quality.
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Figure 7. The influence mechanism of local quality on social spatial heterogeneity.
Figure 7. The influence mechanism of local quality on social spatial heterogeneity.
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Table
Table 1. Local quality.
Table 1. Local quality.
SystemIndicatorIndicator Meaning (Unit)
The degree of interconnection and cooperationTraffic connectivity x1The shortest land direct time from Longxi County to the provincial capital city (h)
Geographical proximity x2Straight-line distance between Longxi County and the capital city of the inflowing province (km)
The capacity for employment and income generationIncome-generating capacity x3Per capita disposable income of inflow provinces (10,000 yuan)
Employment attractiveness x4The proportion of added value of secondary and tertiary industries flowing into the province to the regional GDP (%)
Regional livabilityFacilities livability x5Passenger traffic flowing into the province (10,000 people)
Environmental livability x6Per capita park green space inflowing provinces (m2)
Table
Table 2. Coordination relationship between destination labor force and local quality.
Table 2. Coordination relationship between destination labor force and local quality.
Coordination RelationshipRelative RelationshipRemarks
Coordinate1-1, 3-3When the local quality is x3–x6
1-3When the local quality is x1, x2
2-2When the local quality is x1–x6
Uncoordinated1-2, 2-3
2-1, 3-2
Extremely uncoordinated1-3, 3-1When the local quality is x3–x6
Table
Table 3. Proportion of coordinated relationship between social space type of labor force and local quality.
Table 3. Proportion of coordinated relationship between social space type of labor force and local quality.
Local QualityCoordinating
Relations		Types of Social Space of the Migration Labor Force
IIIIIIIV
x1Coordinated0.360.710.000.50
Uncoordinated0.550.290.670.20
Extremely uncoordinated0.090.000.330.30
x2Coordinated0.360.710.000.40
Uncoordinated0.450.290.670.30
Extremely uncoordinated0.180.000.330.30
x3Coordinated0.270.290.670.70
Uncoordinated0.730.430.000.20
Extremely uncoordinated0.000.290.330.10
x4Coordinated0.820.570.670.40
Uncoordinated0.000.430.330.50
Extremely uncoordinated0.180.000.000.10
x5Coordinated0.450.290.000.40
Uncoordinated0.450.710.330.40
Extremely uncoordinated0.090.000.670.20
x6Coordinated0.550.710.670.40
Uncoordinated0.360.140.000.40
Extremely uncoordinated0.090.140.330.20
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Wu, S.; Ma, L.; Wang, L.; Chen, X.; Shi, Z. Differences of Social Space of Rural Migrant Labor Force: The Influence of Local Quality. Land 2023, 12, 644. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12030644

AMA Style

Wu S, Ma L, Wang L, Chen X, Shi Z. Differences of Social Space of Rural Migrant Labor Force: The Influence of Local Quality. Land. 2023; 12(3):644. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12030644

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wu, Shanshan, Libang Ma, Lucang Wang, Xianfei Chen, and Zhihao Shi. 2023. "Differences of Social Space of Rural Migrant Labor Force: The Influence of Local Quality" Land 12, no. 3: 644. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12030644

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