The Urban-rural Gap of College Graduates‘s Employment Outcomes: Based on Human Capital, Social Capital, and Family Location Capital

• In Event: Education, Place, and Inequality: Global Perspectives on Access and Opportunity

Proposal

Topic
This study focuses on the urban-rural gap of Chinese college graduates‘s employment outcomes, and explains the gaps through human capital, social capital, and family location capital theory, with the aim of helping rural graduates improve their disadvantaged position during higher education, thereby promoting education and social equity.

Theory
From the perspective of labor supply, human capital theory suggests that education is an investment in human capital, enhancing productivity and leading to higher earnings. Urban graduates benefit from attending elite universities and pursuing further education, resulting in higher human capital and improved job opportunities.
From the perspective of labor supply and demand matching, social capital theory emphasizes the importance of social resources and networks in obtaining job information and opportunities, which can help graduates improve employment quality. The difference in family social capital between urban and rural graduates may lead to differences in their employment status.
From the perspective of labor demand, graduates from families residing in more developed cities or regions have better access to job opportunities due to higher demand for educated individuals and a higher proportion of graduates pursuing further education and subsequent employment in their hometown. This aligns with the concept of "family location capital" proposed in this study.

Design
Our research group organized a large-scale sampling survey called Chinese College Graduates Employment Survey in June 2023. Rich information is included in the survey, such as demographic characteristics, family background, academic performance, employment status, etc. This survey used the regional distribution, school type, student size, educational level, and major as a reference to sample universities and graduates, collecting responses from 27,343 college graduates. In the valid sample, graduates whose family is located in urban or rural areas account for 69.8% and 30.2%, respectively.
This study uses descriptive statistics and statistical inference to compare employment outcomes, entrance opportunities, academic performance, and family background of urban and rural graduates. We also use the stepwise regression method to analyze the employment gap under the condition of controlling other variables, to provide empirical evidence for explaining the employment gap.

Findings
From the perspectives of employment outcomes, the proportion of rural graduates pursuing further education is lower, while the proportion of rural graduates employed or in pending status is higher. The monthly starting salary of urban graduates is significantly higher than that of rural graduates, with a gap of 463 yuan. The difference can be partly explained by entrance opportunities and academic performance, and the main reason is family background. The employment satisfaction of rural graduates is also lower. After adding controls, the employment satisfaction gap has narrowed, but it is still significant.
Urban graduates are more employed in metropolises, while rural graduates are more employed in counties, towns, or villages. Even after controlling for three types of variables, the proportion of urban graduates employed in cities and metropolises is still significantly higher. Urban graduates are more likely to work in state-sector entities such as government agencies, public institutions, and state-owned enterprises, while rural graduates are more likely to work in private enterprises. The differences are mainly caused by human capital such as entrance opportunities and academic performance. Rural graduates are at a disadvantage in tertiary industry. The differences are mainly caused by family backgrounds.
From the perspectives of entrance opportunities, the proportion of rural graduates with master and doctor’s degree is higher, and the proportion of rural graduates with bachelor’s degree is lower. The proportion of graduates from higher vocational colleges in rural graduates is higher, while the proportion of graduates from elite and ordinary public four-year universities is lower. From the perspectives of academic performance, urban graduates perform better, specifically reflected in their stronger ability, and a higher proportion of graduates with top 25% scores, student leader experience, scholarships, minors, language and IT certificates.
From the perspectives of family background, urban graduates have more family social capital. Specifically, the family income per capita of urban graduates is significantly higher than that of rural graduates, with the former exceeding twice the latter. The longest schooling period among parents of urban graduates are significantly longer than those of rural graduates by 3 years. The parents of urban graduates are more likely to serve as manager or professional. The proportion of rural graduates from East China is lower and the probability of graduates from Mid-west China is higher.
In conclusion, rural graduates have less comprehensive and high-quality employment opportunities, which is consistent with less human capital, social capital, and family location capital they have. The employment disadvantages of rural graduates are mainly reflected in lower rates of further education, salary, employment satisfaction, probability of working in developed regions and primary labor markets. The employment gap can be explained by entrance opportunities, academic performance, and especially family backgrounds. Besides, rural graduates’ employment satisfaction and probability of working in cities and metropolis are still significantly lower after controlling for relevant variables, which further highlights their disadvantage of family location capital.

Contribution
At the theoretical level, this study combines human capital theory and social capital theory, proposes the “family location capital” theory based on the actual situation in China, and points out that family location capital can help graduates achieve better employment results. At the practical level, this study uses the latest and representative data to describe the urban-rural gap of Chinese college graduates‘s employment outcomes, and analyzes the reasons through three theories, which previous literature has hardly comprehensively analyzed.
Moreover, this study finds that rural graduates have significantly lower implementation rates, employment quality, and probability of working in developed regions and primary labor markets, due to their disadvantages in human capital, social capital, and family location capital. This result reminds governments, universities, enterprises to pay attention to the disadvantaged position of rural graduates, and provide targeted assistance to them in terms of entrance opportunities, learning and activities on campus, and employment guidance, helping them achieve more comprehensive and high-quality employment. This is of great practical significance for improving the disadvantaged situation of vulnerable students.

Author

• QINXUE FENG, Nanjing University (Xianlin Campus)