A multi-level analysis on the determinants of social insurance participation of China’s rural-urban migrants: a case study in Fujian Province

Liyue Lin, Fujian Normal University
Yu Zhu, Fujian Normal University and Australian National University

Internal migration has played an important role in poverty reduction for migrants and their families in China. However, migrants may easily fall into new poverty again given many risks they face in the migration process, and proper social insurance coverage for them is essential to maintain the poverty reduction effect of migration. This paper tries to contribute to the discussion of this issue by examining the determinants of social insurance participation of migrants in China, using a data set from a survey in Fujian Province. It goes beyond the existing Household-Registration System centred approach, and identifies a series of determinants of social insurance coverage of migrants at three levels, i.e. the personal characteristics of migrants, the characteristics of enterprises in which migrants are employed, and social policies of destination cities. Such results have important implications for understanding the roles of migration in poverty reduction and relevant policy making.