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Does housing liquidity matter? Housing property rights and labour market participation of older migrants in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2022

Chengrui Xiao Open the ORCID record for Chengrui Xiao [Opens in a new window]  and
Lijuan Chen Open the ORCID record for Lijuan Chen [Opens in a new window]
Chengrui Xiao
Affiliation:
School of Business, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
Lijuan Chen*
Affiliation:
High-Quality Development Evaluation Institute, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, China
*
*Corresponding author. Email: chenlijuan.nju@gmail.com
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Abstract

This paper adds to the literature by identifying the effect of home ownership on rural-to-urban older migrants’ labour market participation in China. Using the 2016 wave of the China Migrants Dynamic Survey, we find that older migrants who do not own houses are more likely to participate in the labour market than home owners. To alleviate endogeneity caused by the potential sample selection problem, the propensity score matching method is employed. Our results imply that home ownership can be used as a type of precautionary/retirement savings for older migrants, especially for the ones lacking in financial security. We also show that older migrants owning houses with a higher level of liquidity are less likely to participate in the labour market. It indicates that liquidity may significantly affect the effectiveness for older migrants to use home ownership as precautionary/retirement savings.

Keywords

home ownershipliquiditylabour market participationrural-to-urban older migrantsChina
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 43 , Issue 11 , November 2023 , pp. 2673 - 2699
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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