China has experienced significant rural-to-urban migration since the launching of economic and social reforms in the early 1980s. This paper discusses the factors that led to the emergence of the “floating population,” describes the characteristics of the employment market of rural migrant workers, and proposes some alternatives for a more efficient labor distribution. Rural migrant workers remain as “outsiders” in urban areas, despite their contributions to economic dynamism in the destination areas. The paper concludes that labor allocation seems to be a combination of choice and enforcement factors: migrant workers exercise some choice in their jobs, but their choices are limited to only a few job possibilities.
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