劳动力回流能够促进农村发展吗?——基于事实和文献的述评

Will return migration lead to rural development?A review based on facts and literatures

当前国内学界似乎已经形成“劳动力回流必然能够促进农村发展”的先验性假设,并且这一假设大量体现在地方政府“引导劳动力回流”的政策之中。但值得重视的是,“劳动力回流能否促进农村发展”这一问题的背后有着复杂的影响机理。为了厘清劳动力回流促进农村发展的理论观点、现实表现及其形成机制,采用事实观察与文献梳理,研究发现:相比未曾外出的农村劳动力,回流劳动力更多地参与现代农业、非农就业与创业活动;但回流并不一定必然促进流出地发展,关键取决于农村劳动力资本积累水平、迁移流动全过程特征以及流出地与流入地环境能否共同创造合适的“培育土壤”以实现其生产方式转变。政府的可为空间,归根结底在于流入地与流出地两端政府部门对农村劳动力外出前能力培养、外出时融入与提升、返乡后生产生活的“全流程支持”。

Nowadays, the domestic academia seems to have formed a prior hypothesis that return migration is bound to promote rural development, and this hypothesis is largely reflected in the local government′s policy of guiding return migration. What deserves enough attention is that there are complex mechanisms behind the puzzle of whether return migration will help develop rural areas. This paper tries to clarify the theoretical possibility, practical performance and formation mechanisms of the return migration effects. Based on the facts observed and literature reviewed, it is found that, compared with the labor force who has not been out, the returned labor force is more involved in modern agriculture, non-agricultural employment and entrepreneurial activities. However, the returnees do not necessarily promote the development in the place of origin. The key lies in the level of capital accumulation of rural labor, the characteristics of the whole process of migration, and whether the origin and destination areas can jointly create a suitable cultivating soil to realize the socioeconomic transformation. Both the government of the origin and destination areas should give intensive support in the whole migration process for rural labor′s training before going out, their social integration when living outside, and their re-integration after returning home.