This fascinating study compares and contrasts the immense internal migration movements in China and Indonesia. Over the next two decades, approximately two-thirds of the rural labour force is expected to migrate, transforming their respective societies from primarily rural to urban based. Whilst both countries face similar challenges as hundreds of millions of people move, the policies implemented and their consequences are very different. Using an extensive range of qualitative and quantitative data, the contributors explore the impact of migration on migrants and their families, as well as the rural communities they leave behind and the urban communities they enter. They discover that migrants earn less and face discrimination in the urban labour market, although more so in China where there are greater restrictions. However migration contributes to a more equal distribution of income in urban China and to lowering poverty in rural China, and migrants fare better on health and poverty indicators in Indonesia.The Great Migration will strongly appeal to researchers, economists and sociologists with a special interest in migration and development studies. Policy-makers in both China and Indonesia will also find much to fascinate them within this highly original book.

This edited volume provides a comprehensive overview of rural-urban migration in Vietnam. It addresses a wide range of important topics, including Vietnam's household registration system (ho khau), migration trends, remittance behaviour and social networking. In addition, it examines migrants' earnings, their children's schooling, housing issues and their families' consumption behaviour in their destination cities. The book is mainly based on new data from the Australian National University's 'Study of Rural-Urban Migration in Vietnam with Insights from China and Indonesia' (VRUM) project, which identifies migrants from the large-scale, representative 'Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey' 2012 (VHLSS2012). In addition to the data from the VRUM project, the book draws on other widely used data sources to provide a comprehensive picture of rural-urban migrants in Vietnam. By highlighting the issues and challenges brought about by the large-scale rural-urban migration in Vietnam, the book helps researchers and policymakers more effectively formulate policies to respond to those challenges. Moreover, Vietnam's experience can serve as lessons learnt to other transitional/developing countries.

Labour Market Reform in China documents and analyses institutional changes in the Chinese labour market over the last twenty-five years, and argues that further reform is necessary if China is to sustain its high growth rates. The book first assesses the problems associated with the pre-reform labour arrangements. It offers an in-depth analysis of the urban labour market and its impact on individual wage determination, ownership structure, labour compensation and labour demand and of social security reform. In its main chapters, the book investigates the impact of rural economic reform on rural labour market. Detailed consideration is given to the rural agricultural labour market, labour arrangement in the rural non-agricultural sector, and the wage gap between the rural agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. Finally, the book examines the phenomenon of rural-urban migration, its impact on rural and urban economic growth, and models its effect on urban employment, unemployment and earnings.

Labour Market Reform in China analyzes institutional changes in the Chinese labor market over the past twenty years, and offers evidence that further reform is necessary if China is to sustain its high growth rates. It investigates separately the impact of economic reform on the rural and urban labor markets and then considers their interaction. Consideration is given to employment and unemployment, wages and social security. It provides a detailed analysis of how current ownership patterns of urban enterprises hinder further labor market reform.