Self-employment and health inequality of migrant workers

Objective: This research aims to discuss the impact of self-employment on health inequality of migrant workers, and explore the mechanism and group differences of the influence of self-employment on health inequality in Chinese migrant workers. Background Self-employment is one of the main types of employment for migrant workers in China, it is important to promote self-employment of migrant workers for Chinese employment-first policy. However, self-employment will affect the life and behavior of migrant workers, as well as health inequality of them. Method This research uses the data from the 2018 China Migrant Workers Dynamic Monitoring Survey, and examines the impact of self-employment on health inequality of migrant workers by using RIF-I-OLS decomposition method. Results We find that self-employment will reduce the health inequality of Chinese migrant workers significantly, especially among migrant workers with low education, low income groups and low social integration. Further analysis shows that self-employment can directly promote the self-rated health of migrant workers. Moreover, it indirectly alleviates the health inequality of migrant workers by mediating effect of improving public welfare accessibility such as health records and health education. Conclusion It is necessary to allow and support migrant workers to engage in self-employment activities, the government should provide public services such as health education, health records and health rights for migrant workers, focus on the employment of migrant workers in city, especially those with low income and low education. Therefore, we believe that measures should be taken to enhance the sense of belonging of migrant workers in city, and promote migrant workers to truly achieve “urbanization of people”. In this manner, reducing the health inequality of migrant workers.