Background introduction of push-pull theory

In 1960s, American scholar Li Zhengdao put forward a systematic theory of population migration-"push-pull theory". For the first time, he divided the factors affecting migration into "thrust" and "pull". He thinks the former is a negative factor, because these factors prompt immigrants to leave their original place of residence; The latter is a positive factor, because these factors attract immigrants who want to improve their lives to move into new places of residence.

The particularity of China's national conditions determines the arduousness and urgency of the transfer of rural surplus labor force in China. Since 1980s, with the deepening of rural reform, especially the stabilization and perfection of household contract responsibility system, farmers' enthusiasm has been mobilized and social production has been further liberated. At the same time, the problem of rural surplus labor force has gradually emerged. The development of township enterprises has opened up a new way to solve the employment problem of rural surplus labor, but this alone is not enough to absorb rural surplus labor. The emergence of "migrant workers' tide" since the 1990s reflects the objective inevitability of cross-regional mobility of rural labor. Since the beginning of the new century, with the acceleration of urbanization in China, the transfer of rural surplus labor in China has become a global problem.