The Influence of Off-farming Employment on the Consumption Upgradation of Rural Residents: Based on the Social-capital’ s Mediating Effect Test

Based on the survey data of 473 rural households in five counties of Anhui Province in 2022, this paper used the simultaneous equation model to empirically analyze the relationship between the off-farming employment ratio, social capital and rural residents’ consumption upgrading at different levels. The results showed that: (1) With other conditions unchanged, when the off-farming employment ratio increased by 1%, the consumption upgrading of rural residents increased by 7% on average; (2) Social capital played an intermediary role between the off-farming employment ratio and the upgrading of rural residents’ consumption; (3) When the quantile of off-farming employment ratio was at (0.2, 0.7), the direct effect of off-farming employment ratio on the consumption upgrading of rural residents and the intermediary effect of social capital became more obvious. Based on this, countermeasures and suggestions were put forward from three aspects: increasing off-farming employment training and education opportunities, strengthening the construction and utilization of social capital, and promoting the economic and social integration between rural and urban areas, so as to inject vitality into the consumption upgrading of rural residents.