Xiaobing Wang,Jenifer Piesse,Zhengmao Ye

Author information

a Department of Economics, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

b Department of Management, King’s College London, London, SE1 9NH, UK; University of stellenbosch, South Africa

c Key Laboratory of Mathematical Economics, Ministry of Education; and School of Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai 200433, China

E-mail: xiaobing.wang@manchester.ac.uk (Xiaobing Wang), Jenifer.piesse@kcl.ac.uk (Jenifer Piesse), yzm@mail.shufe.edu.cn (Zhengmao Ye)

Abstract

This paper examines the development of labour markets and the evolution of a structure of wages in China, using household surveys for 1988, 1995, 2002 and 2007. It finds evidence of both provincial and sectoral segmentation in labour markets, with eastern regions and the state-controlled sector enjoying high wage premiums in the early reform period. During the reform, China has progressed slowly towards an integrated labour market with convergence in incomes between the rural non-agriculture sector and the urban market-based sector by 1995, when industry flourished in the rural areas. The wage gap between the rural non-agriculture sector and other sectors increased and the urban state-controlled sector remained segmented with respect to all other sectors up to 2002. However, the data from 2007 show there has been increasing sectoral and spatial integration.

Keywords

China, labour markets, wage structure, migration

Cite this article

Xiaobing Wang, Jenifer Piesse, Zhengmao Ye. Labour Markets in China: A Study of the Structure and Evolution of Wages. Front. Econ. China, 2016, 11(2): 265‒301 https://doi.org/10.3868/s060-005-016-0016-7