March 28, 2018
The NYT had a strange column today carrying the headline, “The orphans of China’s economic miracle.” The piece talks about the tens of millions of children who were left behind in the countryside when their parents left to find better-paying jobs elsewhere in the country.
The reason why the column is strange is that it might leave readers with the impression that China is an exception among developing countries in having large numbers of migrant workers who leave their children behind in the care of friends or relatives. In fact, China is actually quite typical this way.
For decades, millions of people have left Mexico, El Salvador, and other Latin American countries to come to the United States in search of better job opportunities. Often these people left family members behind.
What distinguishes the situation in China from the situation in these countries is that the rapid improvement in living standards in China makes it less likely the next generation of Chinese workers will find themselves in the same situation. While there were already large numbers of immigrants from Mexico in the 1940s, there would still be large numbers today, if the US government were not taking strong measures to block immigration. By contrast, the flow of workers from the countryside to the cities in China is likely to slow markedly in the next two decades.
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