Comparative Analysis on Factors Affecting Labor Migration in Various Forest Areas: A Case Study in Hebei, Hunan and Fujian Provinces

Rural farming labor being transferred to non-farming one is not only a common phenomenon in the development of urban and rural areas in China, but also an important prerequisite for the coordinated development of industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization. The article uses the sample data of 290 households from 41 villages in Hebei, Hunan and Fujian provinces, and makes comparative analyses on the factors affecting the migration of forestry labor through the Logistic regression model. The result shows that migrant labor households account for 60% of the sample. Personal endowments have greater influence on the migration than family factors in Baoding city of Hebei, while migrations in Shaoyang city of Hunan and Sanming city of Fujian are mainly affected by family factors. Besides, the operation of agroforestry has widespread impacts on the migration of forest labor in these three cities. According to actual situations in forest regions, it is suggested that developing industries with local characteristics, using science and technology to promote the scale economies and fostering social support system are the important approaches to realize the reasonable migration of surplus labor in rural forest regions and improve the utility efficiency of human resources.