Adjusting to Really Big Changes: The Labor Market in China, 1989–2009

Wei Chi, Richard Freeman and Hongbin Li
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Wei Chi: Tsinghua University
Hongbin Li: Tsinghua University

Chapter 5 in The Chinese Economy, 2012, pp 93-113 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Until China began its post-Mao economic reforms, the country did not have a genuine labor market. State-owned enterprises were the only source of demand for labor. Administrative agencies assigned workers to firms, so individual choice played no part in the determination of labor supply. Then China began the process of transitioning from a state-run economy to a more market-driven one. The early reforms focused on agriculture and product markets but slowly the government freed firms to make labor demand decisions and freed workers to choose their own places of work, creating a genuine labor market. How did this emergent labor market respond to shifts in the supply and demand for labor as China’s urban economy grew rapidly?

Keywords: Labor Market; Business Cycle; Wage Inequality; Earning Growth; Earning Differential (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Working Paper: Adjusting to Really Big Changes: The Labor Market in China, 1989-2009 (2012)
Working Paper: Adjusting to Really Big Changes: The Labor Market in China, 1989-2009 (2012)
Working Paper: Adjusting to Really Big Changes: The labor Market in China, 1989-2009 (2012)
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DOI: 10.1057/9781137034298_6

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