Educational Consequences of Emigration for Children in China

Hideki Morooka, University at Albany, State University of New York

Fujian is considered one of the largest emigrant-sending provinces in China. Socio-demographic profiles of emigrants from Fujian consist mainly of young males with low educational attainment from rural areas. This study examines the educational consequences of this emigration for children who are left behind. Specifically we compare school enrollment for children whose households sent international migrants and children from non-emigrant households. Our preliminary results show that emigration brings positive consequences for the education of children. First, children from households with emigrants are more likely to be enrolled than children from non-emigrant households. Second, emigration also brings positive consequences for gender, i.e. unlike the girls from non-emigrant households, girls from emigrant households are more likely to be enrolled in school than boys. Mechanisms of these outcomes are explored in the final part of the paper.