Labor Market Conditions and Social Insurance in China

Johanna Rickne

No 924, Working Paper Series from Research Institute of Industrial Economics

Abstract: Fifteen years after the introduction of highly ambitious social insurance programs for urban Chinese workers, a large number of them remain un-insured. This paper examines the relationship between labor market conditions and social insurance participation among industrial firms in the pre-crisis years of 2000–2007. I find that increased labor tightness over this period was a quantitatively important driver of participation. Comparing different segments of the labor market, stronger response to tightness is found in sectors with the largest shares of un-insured: private firms, those with a larger share of low-educated workers, and those without labor unions. Increased tightness in the years ahead can therefore be expected to aid policy makers in social insurance implementation and in combating insurance inequality.

Keywords: Social insurance; Employer participation; Labor market tightness; People’s Republic of China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D21 J64 J65 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2012-09-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ias, nep-lab and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Labor market conditions and social insurance in China (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0924

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