Settlement intention of migrants in the Yangtze River Delta, China : the importance of city‐scale contextual effects

Millions of Chinese migrants have moved from the countryside to cities to seek job opportunities and a better life. Under the policy shift from ‘land‐based urbanisation’ to ‘people‐oriented urbanisation’, it is important to understand what determines migrants' settlement intentions. Although previous studies have primarily focused on socio-demographic impacts on settlement intention, the role of city‐level contexts is understudied. Drawing upon data, the 2015 Migrant Dynamic Monitoring Survey in the Yangtze River Delta, this paper addresses this gap by examining the impact of contextual features in host cities, including population size, employment structure, wage levels and house prices on migrants' settlement intentions. We find that house prices are negatively associated with migrants' decision to settle, and wage levels have a positive effect on migrants with tertiary education. Cities with over 10 million residents or high administrative status are particularly attractive to migrants wishing to settle in urban environments.