Leaving Again? Job Quality and Repeat Internal Migration in China

Research on internal migration has paid limited attention to how job quality influences repeat migration. We theorize three possible scenarios where job quality may exert a dampening, facilitating, or null effect on repeat migration, a complex process contingent on gender and educational attainment. Using longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we construct comprehensive measures of objective and subjective job quality and assess their roles in shaping repeat migration among rural-to-urban migrants. Our analyses reveal a clear gendered pattern, where objective job quality significantly affects repeat migration among male migrants but not among female migrants. Moreover, substantial educational variation exists within male migrants. Among men with some college education, higher-quality jobs significantly reduce the likelihood of repeat migration, particularly return moves to rural home villages. In contrast, job quality is not significantly related to repeat migration among men without college education. By examining China’s large and dynamic internal migrant population, our study contributes new insights into repeat migration processes amid growing employment precarity in developing countries, and offers policy implications for promoting migrant integration and reducing labour market inequality in rapidly urbanizing societies.