Abstract: Farmers’ employment is a serious economic and social problem that the Chinese government confronts. Agriculture itself cannot absorb the huge amount of surplus rural labor due to many factors such as the fact of “large population versus scarce land”. This problem can be gradually solved by leading farmers into nonagricultural industries. The article uses 84 households’ sample data from 12 villages of Sanming City in Fujian Province to analyze the influential factors on non-agricultural employment based on a Logistic regression model. Our study result indicates that 76.2% households are engaged in non-agricultural jobs. With the improvement of farmers’ education level, their awareness of identity change is improved and their willingness to work in non-agricultural sectors is enhanced. Our study also shows that farmers with more family members and fewer children generally have a higher rate of mobility. In contrast, farmers living in forest regions with higher per capita land area usually tend to work locally and their willingness to seek manufacturing jobs decreases. Comparison between agricultural income and rural non-agricultural income is the important factor influencing farmers’ decision to work locally or migrate. Finally, government should put more emphasis on household uniqueness, family characteristics, forest character, and income difference to encourage more non-agricultural employment in forest regions.