Research on the Impact of Employment Quality on the Urban Settlement Intention of Agricultural Transfer Population: An Empirical Study Based on CMDS Data

Enhancing the willingness of agricultural migrant population to settle in cities is of great significance for the implementation of China’ s new urbanization strategy. This study utilizes China Migrants Dynamic Survey（CMDS）and constructs a binary Logit regression model based on the “push-pull” theory to empirically analyze the impact of employment quality on the willingness of agricultural transfer population to settle in cities. Research shows that: (1) The overall willingness of agricultural transfer population to settle in cities is relatively low, with only 46% of the total sample willing to move their household registration to cities. (2) The quality of employment has a significant impact on the willingness of agricultural migrant workers to settle in cities. Generous salary benefits, reasonable working hours, comprehensive rights protection, good career development, and strong job stability are important means to enhance their willingness to settle in the city. (3) There are significant differences in the employment quality of agricultural migrant populations with different population characteristics on their willingness to settle in cities. Based on this, it is proposed that the willingness of agricultural transfer population to settle in cities should be strengthened from five aspects: reasonable control of labor time, increasing social insurance participation rate, providing fair salary treatment, attaching importance to basic education of rural youth, and enhancing individual sense of gain, in order to help promote the healthy and orderly development of the new urbanization strategy.