Urban Labour Market

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Russell Smyth - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Are Chinese Workers Compensated for Occupational Risk
    Research Papers in Economics, 2014
    Co-Authors: Haining Wang, Zhiming Cheng, Russell Smyth
    Abstract:

    This study contributes to an important, but under-researched, topic on China by empirically examining the theory of compensating wage differentials for occupational risks in Urban Labour Markets. Drawing on two datasets – one national for all workers and one from the Pearl River Delta for migrant workers - we examine the relationship between wages and occupational risks, and estimate the risk premium for health hazards. The results show that having risky jobs, especially those associated with dust, has a significant negative effect on hourly wages. The negative risk premium accounts for approximately 10 per cent of all workers’ hourly wage in safe jobs using the national dataset and 1.8 per cent of migrant workers’ hourly wage in safe jobs in the Pearl River Delta. With the national data, males, migrant workers and manual workers incur a wage penalty for exposure to dust, chemical substances, biological hazards and other health hazards. Only Urban locals earn a significantly positive wage premium for exposure to chemical substances. We offer several explanations for the negative wage premium in the context of China’s Urban Labour Market.

  • returns to education in china s Urban Labour Market evidence from matched employer employee data for shanghai
    2014
    Co-Authors: Vinod Mishra, Russell Smyth
    Abstract:

    This chapter estimates the economic returns to schooling in Urban China. To do so, we use a unique matched employer-employee data set from Shanghai collected by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2007. The ordinary least squares estimates suggest that the returns to an additional year of schooling are in the range 6.9–7.4 %. The inclusion of firm characteristics and ownership categories do not affect the coefficient on schooling, but the inclusion of industry categories reduce the coefficient on schooling by 0.5 %. Consistent with most of the extant literature, we also find that the returns to an additional year of schooling for females (8.5–9 %) are higher than the returns to an additional year of schooling for males (6.4–6.7 %).

  • Economic returns to schooling for China's Korean minority
    Journal of Asian Economics, 2013
    Co-Authors: Vinod Mishra, Russell Smyth
    Abstract:

    Abstract This paper examines economic returns to schooling for China's Korean minority in the Urban Labour Market using ordinary least squares (OLS) and two-stage least squares. The OLS estimates of the returns to schooling are similar to findings from recent studies for the Chinese Urban Labour Market. We use parents’ education and spouse's education to instrument for education as well as exploit heteroskedasticity to aid in identification. The two-stage least squares estimates using parents’ and spouse's education are considerably higher than the OLS estimates for returns to schooling, while the estimates which exploit heteroskedasticity for identification lie between the OLS and conventional two-stage least squares estimates. The economic returns to schooling reported in this study assist in explaining why private demand for education is strong among the ethnic Koreans in China. It also provides a justification for the Korean minority's focus on educational attainment.

  • Economic returns to speaking 'standard Mandarin' among migrants in China's Urban Labour Market
    Economics of Education Review, 2011
    Co-Authors: Wenshu Gao, Russell Smyth
    Abstract:

    This article uses data from the China Urban Labour Survey administered across 12 cities in 2005 to estimate the economic returns to speaking standard Mandarin among internal migrants in China's Urban Labour Market. The article builds on studies that estimate the economic returns to international immigrants of being fluent in the major language of the destination country and studies that estimate the economic returns to proficiency in the national language among groups of people who speak a minority language. Importantly, we control for potential endogeneity bias in the estimates of the effect of language fluency on earnings. We find that for migrants as a whole, there are considerable economic returns to speaking standard Mandarin. We also find gender differences. While the coefficient on fluency in standard Mandarin is statistically significant and large for females, the coefficient on fluency is statistically insignificant for males. One possible explanation for this finding is that female migrant workers are engaged more in occupations which have greater contact with Urban locals and hence the return to investment in language skills is higher.

  • Economic Returns to Schooling for China’s Korean Minority
    Research Papers in Economics, 2010
    Co-Authors: Vinod Mishra, Russell Smyth
    Abstract:

    This paper examines economic returns to schooling for China’s Korean minority in the Urban Labour Market using ordinary least squares (OLS) and two-stage least squares. The OLS estimates of the returns to schooling are similar to findings from recent studies for the Chinese Urban Labour Market. We use father’s education, mother’s education and spouse’s education to instrument for education. The two-stage least squares estimates are considerably higher than the OLS estimates for returns to schooling and slightly higher than existing two-stage least squares estimates of the returns to schooling for the Chinese Urban Labour Market. The two stage least squares estimates of the returns to schooling for the Korean minority living in Urban areas are high compared with the Asian average and world average. The economic returns to schooling reported in this study assists to explain why private demand for education among the Korean minority in China is strong and provides a justification for the Korean minority’s focus on educational attainment.

Wenshu Gao - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Economic returns to speaking 'standard Mandarin' among migrants in China's Urban Labour Market
    Economics of Education Review, 2011
    Co-Authors: Wenshu Gao, Russell Smyth
    Abstract:

    This article uses data from the China Urban Labour Survey administered across 12 cities in 2005 to estimate the economic returns to speaking standard Mandarin among internal migrants in China's Urban Labour Market. The article builds on studies that estimate the economic returns to international immigrants of being fluent in the major language of the destination country and studies that estimate the economic returns to proficiency in the national language among groups of people who speak a minority language. Importantly, we control for potential endogeneity bias in the estimates of the effect of language fluency on earnings. We find that for migrants as a whole, there are considerable economic returns to speaking standard Mandarin. We also find gender differences. While the coefficient on fluency in standard Mandarin is statistically significant and large for females, the coefficient on fluency is statistically insignificant for males. One possible explanation for this finding is that female migrant workers are engaged more in occupations which have greater contact with Urban locals and hence the return to investment in language skills is higher.

  • Economic Returns to Speaking ‘Standard Mandarin’ Among Migrants in China’s Urban Labour Market
    Research Papers in Economics, 2009
    Co-Authors: Wenshu Gao, Russell Smyth
    Abstract:

    This paper uses data from the China Urban Labour Survey administered across 12 cities in 2005 to estimate the economic returns to speaking standard Mandarin among internal migrants in China’s Urban Labour Market. The paper builds on studies that estimate the economic returns to international immigrants of being fluent in the major language of the destination country and studies that estimate the economic returns to proficiency in the national language amongst groups of people who speak a minority language. Importantly, we control for potential endogeneity bias in the estimates of the effect of language fluency on earnings. We find that for migrants as a whole, there are considerable economic returns to speaking standard Mandarin. We also find gender differences. While the coefficient on fluency in standard Mandarin is statistically significant and large for females, the coefficient on fluency is statistically insignificant for males. One possible explanation for this finding is that female migrant workers are engaged more in occupations which have greater contact with Urban locals and hence the return to investment in language skills is higher. Another explanation is that female migrants are more likely to marry local men in the host city or have better verbal skills than men, meaning that they speak standard Mandarin with a less pronounced accent than men and, hence, suffer less Labour Market discrimination.

  • economic returns to speaking standard mandarin among migrants in china s Urban Labour Market
    Research Papers in Economics, 2009
    Co-Authors: Wenshu Gao, Russell Smyth
    Abstract:

    This paper uses data from the China Urban Labour Survey administered across 12 cities in 2005 to estimate the economic returns to speaking standard Mandarin among internal migrants in China’s Urban Labour Market. The paper builds on studies that estimate the economic returns to international immigrants of being fluent in the major language of the destination country and studies that estimate the economic returns to proficiency in the national language amongst groups of people who speak a minority language. Importantly, we control for potential endogeneity bias in the estimates of the effect of language fluency on earnings. We find that for migrants as a whole, there are considerable economic returns to speaking standard Mandarin. We also find gender differences. While the coefficient on fluency in standard Mandarin is statistically significant and large for females, the coefficient on fluency is statistically insignificant for males. One possible explanation for this finding is that female migrant workers are engaged more in occupations which have greater contact with Urban locals and hence the return to investment in language skills is higher. Another explanation is that female migrants are more likely to marry local men in the host city or have better verbal skills than men, meaning that they speak standard Mandarin with a less pronounced accent than men and, hence, suffer less Labour Market discrimination.

Gerry Rodgers - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

Zhiming Cheng - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • a distributional analysis of wage discrimination against migrant workers in china s Urban Labour Market
    Urban Studies, 2015
    Co-Authors: Haining Wang, Zhiming Cheng
    Abstract:

    Chinese internal migrants without a local hukou (household registration) are often discriminated against in the Urban Labour Market. This study examines the impacts of such discrimination on wage differentials and the distribution among Urban locals, Urban migrants and rural migrants. It uses an extended analytical framework of segmented Labour Market to examine the multiple segmentations between Urban residents and rural migrants and between locals and non-locals. The results show that, compared with Urban locals, rural migrants only face discrimination above the medium-wage level, while Urban migrants face discrimination below the medium-wage level, but to a much lesser degree. Owing to structural differences in employment, Urban locals (rather than migrant workers) are discriminated against at other wage levels. The results suggest that the hukou system still plays an important role in segmenting China’s Urban Labour Market. The degree of discrimination against Urban migrants relative to Urban locals is greater than that against rural migrants relative to Urban migrants. This suggests that nowadays China’s Urban Labour Market is mainly characterised by the segmentation between locals and non-locals, rather than the segmentation between Urban residents and rural migrants, which was the case in the past.

  • discrimination in migrant workers welfare entitlements and benefits in Urban Labour Market findings from a four city study in china
    Population Space and Place, 2015
    Co-Authors: Haining Wang, Zhiming Cheng
    Abstract:

    In the Chinese cities, migrants have been treated differently from Urban locals in varied aspects because of their rural or non-local hukou (household registration) status. But the existing literature provides little understanding on how migrant workers' welfare entitlements and benefits are affected by discrimination and institution in the Urban Labour Market. On the basis of an extended analytical framework that examines not only the segregation between Urban locals and rural migrants but also the segregation between locals and non-locals, this paper investigates the discrimination against migrant workers in employment-based benefits in four megacities. The results show that there are gradient differences in access to overall and individual items of benefits among Urban locals, Urban migrants, and rural migrants. More than half of the benefit disparities between Urban locals and migrant workers are caused by discrimination against the latter, implying that the hukou system still plays a role in segmenting China's Urban Labour Market. Urban migrants and rural migrants suffer similar extent of discrimination when they are compared with Urban locals, suggesting that Urban Labour Market segmentation is currently dominated by the segregation between locals and non-locals rather than by the segregation between Urban locals and rural migrants that was observed in the earlier stage of reforms. In addition, this study suggests that previous studies focusing on the mean wage may have underestimated the extent of discrimination against migrants. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  • Are Chinese Workers Compensated for Occupational Risk
    Research Papers in Economics, 2014
    Co-Authors: Haining Wang, Zhiming Cheng, Russell Smyth
    Abstract:

    This study contributes to an important, but under-researched, topic on China by empirically examining the theory of compensating wage differentials for occupational risks in Urban Labour Markets. Drawing on two datasets – one national for all workers and one from the Pearl River Delta for migrant workers - we examine the relationship between wages and occupational risks, and estimate the risk premium for health hazards. The results show that having risky jobs, especially those associated with dust, has a significant negative effect on hourly wages. The negative risk premium accounts for approximately 10 per cent of all workers’ hourly wage in safe jobs using the national dataset and 1.8 per cent of migrant workers’ hourly wage in safe jobs in the Pearl River Delta. With the national data, males, migrant workers and manual workers incur a wage penalty for exposure to dust, chemical substances, biological hazards and other health hazards. Only Urban locals earn a significantly positive wage premium for exposure to chemical substances. We offer several explanations for the negative wage premium in the context of China’s Urban Labour Market.

John Knight - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • china s expansion of higher education the Labour Market consequences of a supply shock
    China Economic Review, 2017
    Co-Authors: John Knight, Quheng Deng
    Abstract:

    In the decade 1998–2008 China expanded enrolment in higher education almost six-fold. For the examination of its short term Labour Market consequences, this unprecedentedly huge and sudden policy change might be regarded as a natural experiment. After providing a theoretical framework for analysis, the paper uses Urban Labour Market surveys to analyse how the Labour Market adjusted to the supply shock. Three outcomes are examined: the effect of the expansion on wages, on unemployment, and on access to ‘good jobs’. The shock is found to reduce relative wages, raise the unemployment rate, and reduce the proportion in good jobs, but only for the entry-year or entry-period cohort of graduates. The effect is fairly powerful for entrants, especially university rather than college graduates, but incumbent graduates are largely protected from the supply shock. An attempt is made to examine the Labour Market effects of the quantitative expansion on educational quality. The paper provides insight into the operation of China's Labour Market in recent years.

  • segmentation or competition in china s Urban Labour Market
    Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2008
    Co-Authors: John Knight, Linda Yueh
    Abstract:

    In China, Urban residents have traditionally been protected against Labour Marketcompetition from rural–Urban migrants. Over the period of Urban economic reform,rural–Urban migration was allowed to increase in order to fill the employment gap asgrowth of Labour demand outstripped that of the resident Labour force in Urbanareas. However, as reforms gained pace and controls were lifted, it is plausible thatcompetition for work between migrants and Urban residents would have increased.The paper examines whether the relationship is one of segmentation or competitionin the Labour Market. It uses attitudinal responses from two Urban surveys. TheUrban workers who perceive competition from migrants are those who are mostvulnerable. The findings are consistent with the presence of continued LabourMarket segmentation, but suggest also that competition between the two groups isincreasing.Key words: Labour Markets, Wages, Migration, Labour Market segmentation, ChinaJEL classifications: J30, J40

  • Towards a Labour Market in China
    2005
    Co-Authors: John Knight, Lina Song
    Abstract:

    INTRODUCTION 1. Setting the Stage 2. Labour Policy and Progress THE Urban Labour Market 3. Increasing Wage Inequality 4. The Spatial Behaviour of Wages 5. Rural Migrants in Urban Enterprises 6. Redundancies, Unemployment and Migration 7. Immobility and Segmentation of Labour THE RURAL Labour Market 8. Rural Labour Allocation 9. The Imperfect Labour Market 10. Conclusion

  • Urban insiders versus rural outsiders complementarity or competition in china s Urban Labour Market
    Research Papers in Economics, 2004
    Co-Authors: John Knight, Linda Yueh
    Abstract:

    In China Urban residents have traditionally been protected against Labour Market competition from rural-Urban migrants. Over the period of Urban economic reform, rural-Urban migration was allowed to increase in order to fill the employment gap as growth of Labour demand outstripped that of the resident Labour force in Urban areas. However, as reforms gained pace and controls were lifted, it is plausible that migrants and Urban residents increasingly competed. The paper examines whether the relationship is one of complementarity in a still segmented Labour Market or of substitutability in an increasingly competitive Labour Market. It uses attitudinal responses from two Urban surveys and a panel data set covering the 30 provinces over the period 1994-2000. We obtain very different results from cross-section, random effects and fixed effects panel estimates, raising interesting methodological issues. The findings are consistent with the presence of continued Labour Market segmentation but suggest also that competition between the two groups may be increasing.

  • job mobility of residents and migrants in Urban china
    Journal of Comparative Economics, 2004
    Co-Authors: John Knight, Linda Yueh
    Abstract:

    The large-scale reform of the state-owned sector and the development of a private sector in the 1990s changed the nature of employment in Urban China. The system of allocated, lifelong jobs (the iron rice bowl) that had previously prevailed under state planning was eroded, permitting more Labour turnover and mobility. The degree of mobility of Urban workers in China appears not to have been researched, no doubt because there was so little until recently. Using an Urban household survey for 1999 that has rich data on job duration, job change and the reasons for it, we provide a first analysis of inter-firm mobility in the Urban Labour Market, its evolution and its explanation. A distinction is made between the, institutionally favoured, Urban residents and the rural-Urban migrants. The mobility rate of migrants greatly exceeds that of Urban residents. For both groups the extent, patterns, determinants and consequences of mobility are explored.