Effects of Housing Pathway on the Subjective Well-Being of Migrant Workers in China

Studies on subjective well-being (SWB) and its influencing factors have attracted much attention during the past years. The proportion of migrant workers has reached 20% in China, but their levels of SWB are usually lower than that of local residents. To facilitate the social integration of migrant workers, it is a necessity to improve the SWB of migrant workers. The phenomena of pseudo-urbanization could be soothed accordingly in China. A large body of literature has looked into the housing types and living conditions of migrant workers, and the impacts on their SWB. However, little research has investigated the impacts of housing pathways on the SWB of migrant workers. This study aims to fill the research gap. Ordinal logistic regression was conducted using the data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). Housing pathways were significantly different among migrant workers, although many of them had housing tenure no changed (i.e., keep homeownership), housing size no changed, and no improvements in housing qualities. The improvement of housing size and housing qualities had considerably positive effects on migrant workers’ SWB. It is essential to improve housing conditions of migrant workers to increase their levels of SWB and social integration in China.