Health disparity among older adults in Urban China: Does labor migration Matter?

IF 5 2区医学 Q1 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH Social Science & Medicine Pub Date : 2025-03-05 DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117925

Zehan Pan , Feiyang Yang , Nan Yang , Riming Nie

{"title":"Health disparity among older adults in Urban China: Does labor migration Matter?","authors":"Zehan Pan , Feiyang Yang , Nan Yang , Riming Nie","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117925","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>China has seen a surge in labor migration and widening regional health disparities among urban older residents since the late 1990. However, the relationship between labor migration and these disparities remains unknown. This study employs the shift-share instrument method to explore the association between labor migration and the self-rated health among urban older residents with the microdata from the 1% National Population Sample Survey (2005 and 2015) and provincial panel data (2010–2020). The results indicate that regions with higher net labor inflow exhibit improved average health levels and reduced health inequality among local older adults with varying socioeconomic statuses. Between 2010 and 2015, labor migration led to a 9.21 percentage point increase in the regional disparity of self-rated “healthy” probabilities among urban older residents. The key mechanism underlying these effects is the positive effects of labor migration on the wellbeing of certain group of urban older residents. The findings of this study suggest that social benefits access inequality between migrants and non-migrants, and the health disparities among urban older adults underscore broader structural inequality in China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"371 ","pages":"Article 117925"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social Science & Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625002540","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

China has seen a surge in labor migration and widening regional health disparities among urban older residents since the late 1990. However, the relationship between labor migration and these disparities remains unknown. This study employs the shift-share instrument method to explore the association between labor migration and the self-rated health among urban older residents with the microdata from the 1% National Population Sample Survey (2005 and 2015) and provincial panel data (2010–2020). The results indicate that regions with higher net labor inflow exhibit improved average health levels and reduced health inequality among local older adults with varying socioeconomic statuses. Between 2010 and 2015, labor migration led to a 9.21 percentage point increase in the regional disparity of self-rated “healthy” probabilities among urban older residents. The key mechanism underlying these effects is the positive effects of labor migration on the wellbeing of certain group of urban older residents. The findings of this study suggest that social benefits access inequality between migrants and non-migrants, and the health disparities among urban older adults underscore broader structural inequality in China.

查看原文

微信好友朋友圈 QQ好友复制链接

本刊更多论文

中国城市老年人的健康差异：劳动力迁移有影响吗？

自上世纪90年代末以来，中国的劳动力流动激增，城市老年居民的地区健康差距不断扩大。然而，劳动力迁移与这些差异之间的关系尚不清楚。本研究利用2005年和2015年全国1%人口抽样调查的微观数据和2010-2020年的省级面板数据，采用偏移份额工具方法探讨劳动力迁移与城镇老年居民自评价健康之间的关系。结果表明，劳动力净流入高的地区，不同社会经济地位的当地老年人的平均健康水平有所提高，健康不平等程度有所降低。2010 - 2015年，劳动力迁移导致城市老年居民自认为“健康”概率的区域差异扩大了9.21个百分点。这些效应背后的关键机制是劳动力迁移对一定群体城市老年居民幸福感的积极影响。本研究的结果表明，流动人口与非流动人口之间的社会福利获取不平等，以及城市老年人之间的健康差距，突显了中国更广泛的结构性不平等。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文去求助

来源期刊

Social Science & Medicine PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-

CiteScore

9.10

自引率

5.60%

发文量

762

审稿时长

38 days

期刊介绍： Social Science & Medicine provides an international and interdisciplinary forum for the dissemination of social science research on health. We publish original research articles (both empirical and theoretical), reviews, position papers and commentaries on health issues, to inform current research, policy and practice in all areas of common interest to social scientists, health practitioners, and policy makers. The journal publishes material relevant to any aspect of health from a wide range of social science disciplines (anthropology, economics, epidemiology, geography, policy, psychology, and sociology), and material relevant to the social sciences from any of the professions concerned with physical and mental health, health care, clinical practice, and health policy and organization. We encourage material which is of general interest to an international readership.