The search for economic opportunity and social pressure are the top two reasons why some Chinese chose to leave their homeland, according to immigration scholars. Workers in China earn twice as much in the average city as in rural areas, and seven or eight times more in large coastal cities, such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, than in rural areas 1 . In the United States, however, the average income is 20 times the average income in Shanghai 2 . To many workers leaving rural areas in China, the promise of high wages in the United States justifies the risk inherent to entering the country illegally as well as the expense of any smuggling fees. The disadvantage of working in the United States is that higher wages are accompanied by a higher cost of living.
Unemployment increases the competition for jobs, while decreasing wages.
It is important to note that workers who leave China tend to come from developed areas that have the infrastructures to provide communication with and transportation to the West. Chinese who choose to enter the United States illegally must have access to significant funds. Around the Fuzhou area, emigration abroad is commonly seen as the only possible way for an individual to succeed. In some villages, no industries have developed because the majority of workers between the ages of 18 and 45 have left China 8 . Families will loan money to pay smuggling fees, but will not invest in a relative trying to start a business in China, both because of the difficulties of running a business in China and because of the attitude that more opportunity exists in the United States 9 .