Chinese institutional arrangements, particularly the system, hinder long-term settlement of internal migrants by limiting their access to social benefits. This article proposes a new method for assessing migrant settlement: the use of age data to investigate the link between migrant "flow" and "stock". We contend that migrants' inability to settle mainly derives from two sources: the difficulties in maintaining migrant family togetherness, and the impediments to long-term residence of migrants themselves. Age-related indices were developed to compare China's internal migration with other countries' internal and international migration. The results indicate a "China difference" in migration age patterns - child and elderly dependents of migrant workers are discouraged from migrating, while migrants growing old tend to return to the origins than to remain in the destinations. Consequently, family togetherness and long-term residence in the destinations are often unachievable for migrants. Our analyses highlight China's unique migrant labor regime, where temporary migrant workers are continuously "recycled" to keep destinations' workforce "forever young", reducing production costs of Chinese goods in global markets. Methodologically, our age-based "mobile-to-settled" transition framework and "settlement rate" of migrants in the transition are of value in examining migrant settlement chances more generally, applicable to internal and international migration beyond China.

Drawing on residential history data from two household surveys conducted in Guangzhou in 2005 and 2010, this paper compares the pattern of intra-city residential moves of local residents and that of migrants. The findings show different trajectories of residential moves for the two groups. While migrants showed increasing mobility over time, residential moves of locals first rose until the early 2000s, then declined steadily afterward. Moreover, the determinants of residential moves of migrants differ from those of the local population. Also, whereas residential moves for the local population are subject to changing factors over time, drivers of relocation for migrants remain more or less stable.

This Research Note employs age data to assess whether China's internal migrants have become more settled since 2010. The aim is to answer the crucial question of whether recent reform initiatives have achieved their goals of improving migrant settlement. We extend a method from existing research that examines two key aspects of settlement - family togetherness and long-term stay of migrants - through analyzing age profiles of migrant stock. Specifically, by scrutinizing age data from the 2010 and 2020 censuses, we evaluate whether the child and elderly dependents of migrants are more engaged in migration and whether migrants growing old can better remain in the destinations. The results show that from 2010 to 2020, the age distribution of migrants became slightly more even across all age groups, yet it was still concentrated in young adults - the overall shape remained largely unchanged. This indicates a small improvement in settlement, which is unsatisfactory given the various reform initiatives aimed at substantially increasing settlement opportunities in the last 10 years. Much greater efforts on reform and support for migrants are needed. Furthermore, our research highlights the utility of age data in assessing the actual extent of migrant settlement, as opposed to the exclusive focus on settlement intentions, which are common in existing studies.