Chapter Four
Apart from other migration variables, economic variables do affect the migration patterns in a region. Economic factors deals majorly with production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, hence, factors influencing the rate of migration in China also depend on the economic factors. This is because as evident in the last two decades of Chinas boom in economic growth resulted from the labor migration. Evaluating the major provinces in China and their respective regions, the migration of people in China is categorized into two that is the migration of people from rural to urban areas and the migration of people from urban to urban, although, the level of migration from urban to rural areas is so minimal/low. In comparison of the existing cities, the migration of people from the less developed cities to already developed cities is also increasing. All these result from the economic factors which influences the movement of people from one place to another. Some of the economic factors that may influence the migration of people from one region to another include; standard of living, paucity, special economic precincts, business prospects, financially viable or Industrial Policies, employment, and cost of migration.
The migration patterns in china can be categorized into two, whereby migration can be divided into inter-provincial migration and intra-provincial migration whereby inter-provincial migration is the migration of people between provinces while intra-migration is the migration of people within region in a province. The influencing factors in both intra-provincial and inter-provincial migration are determined by the above mentioned economic factors. The data for the different regions of China can be analyzed as follows:
Northeast
Migration
1985-1990
The number of migrants into the province was 3054, with almost an equivalent number of people moving out of the province. This is because the difference between the migrants moving in and out was not that large.
1990-1995
The number of people increased from the previous years in those who are moving into the province. The same experience was noticed on the number of people who were moving out of the province. This showed an increased movement of people from in and out of the province within that period as compared with the previous years.
1995-2000
It also experienced an increase in the number of migrants moving in and out of the province, with the number of people moving in increasing than the number of people moving out. This is because the difference between the numbers of people moving in was almost thrice the number of migrants moving out of the province.
GDP and GNP (Economic Activity)
The sum of the Gross Domestic product of all the regions in North East India was experiencing an increase in the GDP with increasing years. In all the regions there was no point in time where the GDP of the previous year was more than the preceding year. This means that the economic performance of the regions in North East India was improving. And this was evident in the data collected for all the three time periods.
From the data collected for the Gross National Product in the year 1989 and 1990, the economic performance in the entire region of North East was increasing. This was also related to the Gross National Income in the categorized sectors of the economy i.e. agriculture, industry, construction, transportation, and commerce.
From the 1989 Gross National Income, it is evident that the Gross National Product was majorly contributed to by industrialization in different regions of China for it experienced the higher amount of the national income.
Hence, the economic performance of North East China might have encouraged the movement of people into this province compared to the number of people who were leaving. This was an average category in the level of growth in the North West economic performance, similar to the average level migration into and out of the province. This could have been the reason behind the resulting figures of the number of people migrating into and out of the region.
South East
Migration
1985-1990
During this time period, the number of migrants moving in and out of South East province was almost the same. There was a small difference between the migrants moving in and out.
1990-1995
This time period experienced a decline in the number of people moving both in and out of South East Province. The unique behavior of the migrants in this province during this time period was that the number of migrants moving out outnumbered the number moving in. Unlike the previous year which was vice versa.
1995-2000
During this time period, there was a rapid increase in the number of migration into and out of South East Province. As compared to the previous two time periods, there was a large difference in the recorded number of migrants in this region.
GDP and GNP (Economic Activity)
The Gross Domestic product of the South East region was recommendable as compared to the rest of the provinces. The Gross Domestic Product was increasing with increase in the number of years. The summation of the current Gross Domestic Product output was more than the previous year; this showed an increasing trend in the Gross Domestic Product in South East Province.
This level of growth in the South East province could be categorized under high level of growth as compared with the rest of the provinces.
The Gross National Income in the South East region is similar to the rest of the region, whereby there is an increase in the national income with the number of increasing years. This increase is replicated in the total societal output. Similar to the North East province, industrialization has taken major control of the national income and has a larger percentage in its contribution to the Gross National Product. All these net gains might be attributed to the high level of migrants moving into the region compared to the number moving out.
Southwest
Migration
1985-1990
Has the lowest number of regions among the provinces. Unlike other provinces, South west has experienced a larger number of migrants out of its regions than in. This is evident from the data collected during this time period.
1990-1995
Compared to the previous years, the number of migrants into the province reduced but still the number going out was more. And this was increase with the increase in years. In other words the number of migrants into the province was reducing as years accumulated while the number of migrants going out increased with accumulation in years.
1995-2000
This period experienced a rapid increase in the number of migrants moving both within and without, although the pattern of the numbers moving within and without had not changed despite the increase. That is the number moving out of the province was still more than the number moving into the province.
GDP and GNP (Economic Activity)
Despite the tremendous number leaving the province, the Gross Domestic Product had the same pattern with the rest of the provinces. This was evident in the data recorded where the progressive nature of the number of years was accompanied by the increase in the Gross National Product, which was also replicated in the total output value of the society.
Although as compared to the rest of the analyzed provinces, the rate of growth can be rated as low. This might have contributed to the large number of people moving out of this region to other places.
Northwest
Migration
1985-1990
Same to the South West, the number of migrants into this region was low than the number moving out.
1990-1995
During this time period, as compared to the previous, the number of migrants moving in and out of the region reduced. The migration pattern was still similar to Southwest, where the number moving in was still less than the number moving out of the region.
1995-2000
During this period in the Northwest province, an increase in the migrants into and out of the region increased. The pattern of migration changed where the number of migrants moving into the region outnumbered the number going out of the region.
GDP and GNP (Economic Activity)
The increasing trend in the Gross National Product and the total society output in this region were similar to the rest of the provinces. This explained that despite the low movement of people into the region, there was an increase in the Gross National Product and the total output. The level of societal output gave a reason to categorize the economic performance of this region as low. This explained why the total percentage of growth of current year compared with the previous years was low.
The above low, average and high migration patterns have been influenced by the below discussed factors which result from the economic performance and the total societal output of the different regions.
Poverty
This is the living standards of people. The low income earners in a region might be influenced to migrate to look for places where if they stay, the likelihood of their income wages increasing is very high. Hence they will migrate to that region within a province or without a province to improve their living standards. Hence, this shows how poverty level will influence one to migrate from one region to another.
Also the availability of the human basic need might influence one to move from one place to another. A place might have a geographical condition that generally contributes to the poverty level of a place, hence, rich places in terms of climatic condition, basic human needs (Economically viable)e.t.c might attract a larger population to move to that place and evacuate other places.
Standard of living
This economic factor can influence both rural-urban migration and urban-rural migration. Rural to urban migration can be influence in that those people living in places where there are certain goods and services that are not available e.g. health facilities may prefer to move top those area where the standards of living is high. Also due to the income of a person, one can easily move from one region to another to a place where he/she feels comfortable. This is majorly influenced with the issue of class difference and the income of a person.
Urban to rural migration can be as a result of the high cost of living in the cities. Hence, by virtue of being in a position where he/she is not able to sustain the living standards in the urban centers one can make a decision of moving to a rural or a less developed area because of the living standards. Hence, by this is has influenced the movement of a person from one region to another.
Special Economic Precincts
This is because of the geographical differences between places. This can be as a result of the different geographical conditions which are favorable to some people while to other is isn’t. Hence, people may decide to move from one region to another in a province or from one province to another because of the geographical conditions of a place. This factor majorly influences the source of production and the labour force in an economy. Due to the means of production e.g. agriculture, one can easily move from one region to another because the climatic condition of a place may not favor the agricultural produce of a product.
Also the climatic condition might be unfavorable to a person’s health; this can also influence the movement of a person. To the labour force, their movement may result from a place not being able to offer opportunities e.g. a fisherman staying in a place where there are no lakes. Hence, the person may decide to move from that place to look for a better place where he/she may exploit labour.
A good example is the agricultural land scarcity where due to inadequate land, people may prefer to go and look for other means of generating income, hence looking for other places where there is adequate agricultural land, or other means of survival in other places.
Business Prospects
The establishment of business does come after a needs assessment. Whereby an entrepreneur carries out a community analysis and comes up with ideas that might favor or disfavor a business in a certain region. Availability of business opportunities in a region might encourage the movement of entrepreneurs from one region to another. The availability of an opportunity might interest company too due to the availability of cheap labor in a region. Availability of land, market, labor, and raw materials, are major reasons why a business would see an opportunity in a place. Land is the availability of the place where a business can be situated, market are the possible consumers of the goods and services the business is planning to provide, labor are the subordinate staff who will aid the business in the provision of the goods and services, and the raw materials are the inputs that will be needed to come achieve the end product. Once these opportunities have been identified, one can be encouraged to move to a place and settle there. Hence, the business opportunity is a factor that influences the migration of people from one region to another.
Economic policy
The introduction of economic policy saw a reduction of labor movement in China; hence the level off production also went down. Economic policy might favor the movement of people from one region to another. The introduction of economic policy is normally enacted to regulate a lot of factors in the economic sectors regulation of the movement of labour being one of them. From the literature reviewed, the introduction of economic policy in China that regulated the movement of labor force in china saw a reduction in percentage of the migrating population in both inter-provincial and intra-provincial. This brought a lot of strictness. This policy reduced the level of migration. A good example is the policy that was enacted in 1999 to regulate the level of migration of the refugees coming to china. This regulation lead to a loss of 381,000 people, which also reduced the level of migration of people to 513,000 migrants among them were 294, refugees.
The relenting on the economic policy by the Chinese policy makers saw a rapid increase in the migration of labor from one place to another. Hence, it was evident that the economic policy was also a factor that that majorly determined the movement of people from one place to another.
Employment
The employed, unemployed and the underemployed are also part of the population moving from one region to another. People might be moving from one place to another in search of greener pastures, looking for employment, and looking for an occupation. Thus, their movement will be with a purpose to look for a means of survival by getting an employment opportunity. Hence employment is one of the factors that influence migration of people from one place to another.
Cost of Migration
This is the expenses incurred when one is moving from one place to another. People might be encouraged or discouraged to move from one place to another because of the cost. The affordability of the cost of movement from one place to another by people will encourage them to move to places where they deem fit for them. While if the movement cost is so expensive, this will limit the movement of people from one place to another or rather they will prefer staying in that specific locality.
Depending on where one wants to move from, either interprovincial or interprovincial the cost being incurred will determine the movement of people from one region to another. For example the cost of migrating from one province to another might be expensive than migrating from one region to another within a province, hence, a person might prefer to move intra-provincially than inter-provincially due to cost. Hence, the cost factor will limit or encourage the movement of people and the labor force from one region to another.
The cost of migration is also related to the location of the destination of a place one has identified for settlement. The distance between the two places is relative to the cost of migration. Despite the cost that may be incurred when one moves from one place to another, the location of that place and the distances from the point of location of the person from his identified destination may also encourage the migration of a person to a place. This influences both the migration patterns. That is both the interprovincial migration and the intra-provincial migration.
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