The Impact of Information Technology Development on Migrant Workers' Settlement Intentions: Evidence from China

Abstract Whether the application of new technology represented by information technology will crowd out the rural migrant population working in cities with low-skilled labor force as the main body is an academic field that has not been well discussed in the current academic literature. Based on the data of China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) from 2015 to 2017, we employ a Double Machine Learning (DML) model to estimate the impact of information technology on migrants’ intentions to settle in urban area. We find that the advancement of IT significantly enhances migrants’ intentions to settle in urban area. The development of information technology mainly promotes the willingness of migrant workers to settle in urban area by improving their income, helping them climb higher career gradients and improving the convenience of life. We also find that the development of information technology has a significant impact on the willingness of migrant workers of different skills, age groups and different levels of cities to settle in the working city, but its impact on low-skilled migrant workers, the new generation and migrant workers working in first-tier cities is more prominent. JEL Classification: J10,J61,R23