This book empirically investigates the changes in labor market structure accompanying the labor market reform in China by focusing on the labor market segmentation problems from the 1980s to 2013. The book also aims to examine the effect of labor policy reforms on individual, household and enterprise behavior, including the causes and consequences of labor market reform in China, particularly the influences of labor policy reforms on labor market performance. Offering valuable insights into the changing structure of the Chinese economy, this book will be of interest to scholars, activists, and economists.

Labour Market Reform in China documents and analyses institutional changes in the Chinese labour market over the last twenty-five years, and argues that further reform is necessary if China is to sustain its high growth rates. The book first assesses the problems associated with the pre-reform labour arrangements. It offers an in-depth analysis of the urban labour market and its impact on individual wage determination, ownership structure, labour compensation and labour demand and of social security reform. In its main chapters, the book investigates the impact of rural economic reform on rural labour market. Detailed consideration is given to the rural agricultural labour market, labour arrangement in the rural non-agricultural sector, and the wage gap between the rural agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. Finally, the book examines the phenomenon of rural-urban migration, its impact on rural and urban economic growth, and models its effect on urban employment, unemployment and earnings.

This book explores endogenous institutional change and the global, cyclical, and power-based drivers that underpin it. A metatheoretical framework is presented to highlight the influence of path dependence, systemic cycle driven power relations, and institutional design on the development of labor institutions. The framework is applied to the USA, Germany, and China to provide a comparative economic perspective. Systemic Cycle and Institutional Change: Labor Markets in the USA, Germany and China aims to examine endogenous institutional change through analyzing the systemic cycle and bringing together global and national conceptions of capitalism. It is relevant to students and researchers interested in comparative economics, political economy, and labor economics.

A more market-oriented labor market has emerged in China in the past twenty years with growing importance of the urban private sector, as state-owned enterprises have downsized. Despite the progress on reforms, a sizable surplus of labor still exists in the rural sector and state-owned enterprises. The main challenge facing China’s labor market in coming years is to absorb the surplus labor into quality jobs while adjusting to World Trade Organization (WTO) accession. This paper estimates that if annual GDP growth averages 7 percent and the employment elasticity is one-half, urban unemployment could double to about 10 percent over the next three to four years. These pressures would be limited by stronger economic growth, especially in the private sector and more labor-intensive service industries which have generated the most jobs in recent years. Therefore, policy should focus on encouraging private sector development while reducing barriers to labor mobility, improving worker skills, upgrading job search services, and strengthening the social safety net.

This paper examines gender inequality in the context of structural transformation and rebalancing in China. We document declining women's relative wages and labor force participation in China during the last two decades, despite rapid growth and expansion of the service sector. Using household data, we provide evidence consistent with a U-shaped relationship between economic development and women's labor market outcomes. Using a model of structural transformation, we show that labor market barriers for women have increased over time. Model counterfactuals suggest that removing these barriers and increasing service sector productivity can boost both gender equality and economic growth in China.