The Educational Success of China’s Young Generation of Rural-to-Urban Migrants

The education policies introduced in the rural areas of China following the end of the ‘cultural revolution’ resulted in an improved provision of educational institutions along with better quality teachers which increased the educational attainment of young rural migrants and raised their career aspirations. This paper uses data from the Rural-Urban Migration in China (RUMiC) dataset for 2009, in a novel examination of the wage returns to schooling for young and old generations of rural-migrant and urban workers in order to ascertain whether the improved schooling has led to better outcomes. Another novel feature is the examination of the wage returns to over-, required and under-education. We find evidence that the wage return to schooling for young rural-to-urban migrants is larger than that for older migrant workers and that the return to schooling for young urban residents is lower than that of older workers. There is evidence of young migrants receiving a wage premium where they are overeducated for their job.