Abstract: In order to prevent returning to poverty and relieve the relative poverty, this paper subdivides the dimensions of human capital and summarizes the successive experiences of China in promoting non-agricultural employment and reducing poverty of farmer households by improving the human capital of rural labor force from the multi-perspective of poverty. Based on the four phase panel data of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), the findings show that higher levels of human capital of labor force are conducive to the improvement of the elimination of absolute poverty of farmer households, the alleviation of relative poverty and the reduction of poverty vulnerability, and that the marginal effect of education is greater than that of health. The non-agricultural employment of labor force has the intermediary effect in the process of human capital promoting the poverty reduction of farmer households, and this effect is relatively greater in education reducing farmer households’ vulnerability to poverty. However, the family support burden will reversely regulate the intermediary role of non-agricultural employment of labor force. The policy implications of the above conclusionsare that the prevention of future returning to poverty and the governance of the relative poverty in rural areas is worth continuing the past successful experiences and roads, that the human capital of labor force should be vigorously improved and the non-agricultural employment of labor force should be promoted, and that the development of educational poverty alleviation should be especially insisted, so as to continuously solve the problem of poverty through supporting and empowering the educated farmers.

Key words: labor force, human capital, non-agricultural employment, poverty of farmer households