Uneven spatial patterns and disparate socioeconomic impacts of intercity labor mobility in China

Labor migration has become an important factor affecting urban development. Although population mobility has been analyzed from various perspectives, existing research requires a more comprehensive understanding of how uneven socioeconomic characteristics relate to large-scale labor mobility in a country. Hence, this study takes national cities in China as the research objects and explores the dynamic labor mobility patterns from 2021 to 2023. By characterizing the spatial–temporal mobility patterns before and after the New Year, the backflow model is used to capture labor activities and further understand the driving factors of labor mobility. The research results show that large cities in each agglomeration have a huge capacity to absorb incoming labor populations of small- and medium-sized cities with a surrounding distance of about 500–1500. These intercity laborers are more likely to be driven by family and economic pressures, but their salaries may not be high paying. This means that there are still significant uneven socioeconomic disparities between laborers’ native city and working city. Taken together, this study contributes to a further in-depth portrayal of the profile of intercity labor mobility on a large scale and reflects on the significance of this spatial mobility for individual and national development.