Internal migration trends in China are well documented, but existing studies rely almost exclusively on period measures applied to cross-sectional data. In this seminar, Dr Bernard will adopt a cohort perspective to analyse migration levels and patterns and reasons for moving in China. She will apply a series of newly developed cohort measures to nationally representative migration histories retrospectively collected as part of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2014. She will also present migration projections to provide insights into how migration levels are likely to evolve in the coming decades in China. Her research shows modest but rising levels of migration underpinned by a reduction in lifetime immobility and a rise in repeat movement, largely caused by an upswing in employment-related migration, while demonstrating significant sex differentials that have persisted across successive cohorts.

Title: Migration in China: A Cohort Approach to Understanding Past and Future Trends

When: 07 February 2019 12:00pm–1:00pm

Where: Room 519, Chamberlain Building (#35)

Biography: Dr Bernard is a demographer with an interest in human mobility and migration. Her research focuses on large-scale comparative studies and methods of analysis. She has recently developed a series of cohort measures of migration to robustly establish and monitor trends in migration in countries around the world and identify the socio-economic causes of the decline in migration level observed in a number of advanced economies. She works closely with the Asian Demographic Research Institute to advance understanding of migration behaviour in Asia and its socio-demographic impact of society.