Towards a Labour Market in China

by John Knight, Lina Song

Overview

From an administered labor system under central planning, the Chinese economy has moved towards a labor market. This book reviews the progress that has been made over two decades of urban economic reform. It analyzes the underlying political economy that has both induced and impeded reform, and examines the economic changes that have unleashed market forces. Based on frontier research using specially designed and collected survey data, the book documents the rising wage inequality, the greater rewards for skills, the growing wage segmentation based on labor immobility and profit-sharing, the emergence of serious urban unemployment, and the competition from the rising tide of rural migrants. China does not yet have a functioning labor market: the book concludes by examining the prospects for its creation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199245277
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/02/2005
Series:	Studies on Contemporary China
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

The Oxford University

The University of Nottingham

Table of Contents

Introduction1. Setting the Stage2. Labour Policy and ProgressThe Urban Labour Market3. Increasing Wage Inequality4. The Spatial Behaviour of Wages5. Rural Migrants in Urban Enterprises6. Redundancies, Unemployment and Migration7. Immobility and Segmentation of LabourThe Rural Labour Market8. Rural Labour Allocation9. The Imperfect Labour Market10. Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

"Overall, this study is about as complete and coherent an analysis of Chinese labor markets in formation as any in the current literature. Essential"—CHOICE

From the Publisher