Striking for Marriage: Migration, Sex Ratio And Labor Conflict in China
54 Pages Posted: 20 Jul 2024
Abstract
This paper documents that marriage competition among migrant workers provokes labor strikes in China, combining datasets of 9,296 strikes, migrant networks, and the sex ratio of migrants' origins. Our triple-differences design exploits a temporal variation introduced by the Chinese Lunar New Year (CLNY), a period of marriage-seeking urgency among returning migrants, to address their self-selection into host city. We find that migrant workers facing high versus low marriage competition significantly escalates strike occurrences during the CLNY, with a one-percent point sex ratio increase leading to 4.18% additional strikes. Mechanism analysis shows that the skewed sex ratio, and resultant bride shortage, motivates migrants to improve marriage prospects by acquiring houses as status goods. This investment reduces their tolerance for wage arrears, sparking collective actions like protests and sit-ins, especially in the construction industry. Further research indicates that lifting settlement restrictions expands migrants' marriage market, counteracting the impact of their origin.
Keywords: migrants, strikes, collective action, sex ratio
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation