Quality adjustment and analysis of human resource prices in China: Based on a hedonic price model

Abstract

The competition in the world has shifted from natural resources and capital resources to human resources. The human resources have become the real power source of the economic growth. Firstly, the price of human resources in China is calculated. Secondly, in order to measure the human resources quality adjustment index, the indicators system is constructed. Third, the Hedonic method is used to calculate the human resources "pure price" of 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) in China. The "pure price" has no the factor of human resources quality. Lastly, comparing the price of human resources before and after quality adjustment. The results show that: first, the number of human resources in China increased continuously during 1995–2015 and decreased during 2016–2020. Second, the price of nominal human resources in China keeps rising. In 2020, the nominal price is 39,087 yuan per person which is 15.44 times as many as in 1995. Thirdly, after the quality adjustment, the price of human resources has decreased significantly. The multiple between the actual and nominal price of human resources is between 1.75 and 2.12. Fourthly, the province with high human resource quality adjustment index generally have high quality human resource level or quantity. Fifth, the top five provinces of actual human resource prices are Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, Tianjin, Zhejiang, the bottom five provinces are Guizhou, Yunnan, Henan, Xizang, Gansu. Finally, the paper puts forward some policy recommendations: Improving the data collection mechanism of human resources accounting to provide a basic guarantee for the accurate accounting of human resources. Improving the price of human resources in the central and western regions to attract the talents to transfer to the central and western regions. Enhancing the skills training of human resources to improve the quality of human resources in the western region.