THE RISE OF RURAL-TO-RURAL LABOR MARKETS IN CHINA

movement patterns. If rural areas are safer, more “friendly” migration destinations and
demand low-skilled and less-strenuous factory labor, the part of the labor force excluded
from urban destinations may find off-farm employment opportunities in other villages.
In the rest of this section, we describe the inroads made and constraints still faced by
women, the less-educated, and the young as they attempt to find off-farm sources of
income.

Gender

China’s off-farm employment opportunities primarily go to male workers (table 2;
Parish; Zhe, and Li, 1995; Zhang, Zhao, and Chen, 1995). In 1988, only 27 percent of
the self-employed workers and 34 percent of local village industry workers were female
(rows 2 and 3). Female workers were also underrepresented in the rural-to-urban labor
movement in 1988 (20 percent female, row 2, column 4) and also in rural-to-rural
migration (24 percent female, column 9).

Between 1988 and 1995, female rural workers made inroads into off-farm
employment and much of these gains were by commuting and migrating into other rural
villages. Migration was the primary means for women to participate in rural-to-rural
labor movement in 1995, with 44 percent of rural-to-rural migrants being female (table 2,
rows 1 and 2, column 9). While the share of female workers among rural-to-rural
commuters declined, female workers still accounted for 43 percent of the workers in
1995, significantly higher than locally employed workers (32 percent) and rural-to-urban
commuters (28 percent). These results do not necessarily contradict findings and
observations by others who describe considerable female factory and domestic
employment opportunities in some urban areas. If our sample is representative, however,

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