Abstract:

The integration problem of migrants is the low efficiency of employment matching, which affects their employment quality and income level. Based on the Chinese Migrant Population Dynamics Monitoring Survey data from 2015 to 2017, this paper empirically examines the impact of Internet development on the labor income of migrants. The IV results show that Internet development increases the labor income of migrants. We find the results are consistent after conducting a series of robustness checks. At the individual level, younger, highly educated migrants, and migrants with higher skills benefit more. The mechanism analysis shows that the main reason for this effect is that Internet development increases the probability of migrants using the Internet for employment, reduces frictional unemployment of migrants, and improves their skill matching degree to promote income growth.

Key words:

Internet development, information asymmetry, skill matching, income of the migrants