Return Location of Migrant Workers: A Case Study of 14 Sample Villages in Henan Province, China

The return of migrant workers is an important trend in labor mobility in China. The location of the return determines the direction of the flow and affects the choice of settlement. Based on first-hand data from a field survey, statistical analysis and binary logistic analysis methods are used to analyze the location characteristics and influencing factors of the return flow. The study found that (1) returning to the county is the basic spatial feature of the return of migrant workers. Most workers return to villages and counties outside the township. Before returning, most worked in other cities and counties. Counties and small towns near the village have become the main sites for migrant workers’ return to employment. Although the general trend of rural-urban migration has not changed, the intensity has declined to a certain extent. (2) The main reason for return is to take care of the family, followed by old age, difficulty finding a job, low wages and high costs, poor health, etc. In addition, hometown employment conditions have an impact. The push from other places and the local pull work together on migrant workers, eventually producing a return pattern. (3) Most return flow has occurred in the last 5 years, and it has been intensifying. Return flow and outflow are the two basic forms of labor mobility. Under normal circumstances, migrant workers choose to return when they cannot obtain a higher income or cannot find a job. It is foreseeable that as the county-level economy continues to develop, the trend of return will continue to strengthen. (4) Factors such as years of education, skills, working years, number of work sites, family generation, distance from the city, and relative position in the village reached significance in the regression model for the choice to return to the county. Only the family generation coefficient was negative, and the other coefficients were positive. Employment and income and taking care of the family are the main mechanisms influencing migrant workers' return location selection.