Urban Competitiveness and Migration in the YRD and PRD Regions of China in 2010

There has been significant migration in China since the early 1980s and such migration has played an important role in the urban and regional development of China. The relationship between migration and development has been a tricky question as they affect each other. Many migration studies have attempted to identify the impact of social and economic development on migration. This article examines empirically if there is a positive relationship between urban competitiveness and migration. The study focuses on 25 cities in Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD) in 2010. A total of 59 indicators are used to measure urban competitiveness first using a sustainable development perspective. The relationship between migration and urban competitiveness is analyzed among 25 cities. This study shows the following effects of migration according to the verification of four hypotheses. The share of migrants in usual residents has a positive relation with the urban competitiveness. The share of intraprovincial migrants has a more significant relation with the urban competitiveness than the share of interprovincial migrants. The ratio of urban migrants in intraprovincial migrants has a significant relation with the urban competitiveness. The ratio of skilled migrants in total migrants has a significant relation with the urban competitiveness.