Dr. Yu Yixiang published an article titled Formal Social Networks and Cross Provincial Labor Mobility: A Perspective from Cross Regional Chambers of Commerce in the The Journal of World Economy, No.5, 2024 , a designated A2 level journal by our university.

In recent years, the country has vigorously promoted the construction of a unified national market, endeavoring to break down local protectionism and market segmentation, and break through key bottlenecks that restrict economic circulation. As an important factor of production, the free and smooth flow of labor is crucial for accelerating the construction of a unified national market. However, at present, cross regional labor mobility still faces numerous obstacles, and this “bottleneck” is mainly inter provincial. The paper takes cross regional chambers of commerce as an example to explore the important role of formal social networks in breaking down barriers to inter provincial labor mobility. The study finds that cross regional chambers of commerce significantly promote the cross regional flow of labor from the province of origin to the province where the chamber of commerce is located. Cross regional chambers of commerce can promote population mobility by reducing the cost of obtaining market information and communication with the destination. The establishment of cross regional chambers of commerce is also conducive to breaking local resource monopolies, improving social acceptance, and compensating for the imperfect local formal system. Cross regional chambers of commerce have a greater impact on disadvantaged groups such as those with lower education levels and rural laborers in the labor market, and can help them obtain employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in different regions.

This article analyzes the impact of formal social networks on inter provincial labor mobility from the perspective of chambers of commerce in different regions, expanding and enriching existing research on the relationship between social networks and labor mobility. In addition, this paper systematically analyzes the important role played by some explicit and implicit factors in the process of the impact of formal social networks on labor mobility across regions, including the Internet development, marketization level and other explicit factors, as well as dialect, clan culture, inclusiveness and other implicit factors. Therefore, it has important policy implications for the government to promote free labor mobility and employment.