Returning home for a better job? Return migration, family background, and labor market outcomes among recent college graduates in China

In previous studies of migration, return migration is usually considered a behavior determined by negative self-selection. This study pools data from three waves of the China College Student Survey (2010, 2013, and 2015) to explore the return migration behavior of Chinese college graduates and its impact on their labor market performance. The results show that graduate return migrants have advantages in terms of family background, although they do not perform as well in terms of human capital. Relative to graduate nonreturn migrants, return migrants have a greater chance of securing positions in governmental organizations, and this advantage is reinforced by family political capital. In addition, income analysis shows that return migrants seem to have an advantage over nonreturn migrants when the effects of migrant selectivity are considered. This study systematically discusses the monetary and occupational returns to return migration of highly educated individuals in a non-Western context, and has important implications for our understanding of the relationship between migration and social inequality.