How Large Is China's Rural Surplus Labor Force?

The existence of surplus labor in the countryside and transfer of agricultural labor to non-agricultural sectors is a common phenomenon in economic development.Supply of rural surplus labor will change with the transfer of labor.By calculating the di erence between the agricultural labor force and current demand of laborin agriculture,this paper seeks to estimate the total amount of China’s rural surplus labor as identified by age,gender and education.Results indicate that there areroughly 110 million rural surplus laborers,of which 50%are aged above 40 years old,55.37%are women,and 42.96%have received an education below primaryschool.Currently,China’s rural surplus labor supply falls short of non-agricultural industry demand.