Segmented Local Labor Markets in Postreform China: Gender Earnings Inequality in the Case of Two Towns in Zhejiang Province

Abstract

IntroductionLabor-market segmentation is of concern for several reasons. Segmented labor markets are a major cause of economic inefficiency because excluding a majority of workers from access to many labor-market segments wastes human resources and reduces the flexibility of the labor market to cope with economic change (Anker, 1997). Segmentation induced by gender, ethnicity, or race marginalizes certain social groups and contributes to social inequality (Boston, 1990). Research into the dynamics of labormarket transformation, both the mechanisms and the outcomes of change, provides an important means of understanding the changes in economies and social welfare.Although labor-market segmentation in developed economies has been studied extensively (Bauder, 2003;Hanson and Pratt, 1991;Peck, 1996), there are growing interests in and concerns over the changing patterns of labor markets in developing economies (Fan, 2002;Gindling, 1991). As a developing nation, China has experienced dramatic social and economic changes over the last two-and-a-half decades during its transition from a centrally planned system to a`socialist market economy' (Oi, 1999;Walder, 1995;Xu and Tan, 2001). During this process of economic transition, massive changes in the Chinese labor market have resulted in a new relation between labor supply and demand (

Geographic structure of migrant labor market in China: A case study of four city-regions in Fujian

“…Migrant labour markets in China have long been reckoned as being gender-segmented (Fan 2003a;Fan 2003b;Xu et al 2006), and the present research reinforces this argument. In particular, among the 15 explanatory variables, only "gender" is significant in all four models.…”

“…Beyond micro-scale mechanisms embedded in migrant labour markets, macro-scale factors may also play a role in determining the labour market performance of individual labourers (Zhao 2005;Zhan 2011). Inter-regional inequality in economic growth and change, structural variation of sectoral development across regions, cultural differences embedded in various local labour markets, institutional barriers in segmenting labour markets, and constraining labour mobility are some of the macro-scale factors that shape the dynamics of migrant labour markets in China (Fan 2002;Xu et al 2006;Wang and Wu 2010). Also, it is argued that migrant labour markets are greatly separated from local resident labour markets in Chinese cities (Zhao 1999;Fan 2002;Xie 2007).…”

“…Two elements have been frequently discussed in relation to migrant labour market segmentation in China. First, the role of gender-that is, migrant labour has been widely recognized as being gender-segmented in transitional China (Fan 2003a;Fan 2003b;Xu et al 2006). The preference for male migrant workers, as well as the subordinate positions of female migrants, has been well documented (Meng 1998;Yang and Guo 1999;Lu and Song 2006).…”

“…Structuralists have highlighted the importance of wider institutional processes and emphasized the demand side of the labour market. They have pointed out the existence of labour market segmentation in coastal China and its effects on migrants (Fan 2003a;Xu et al 2006;Knight and Yueh 2009). Behaviourists and new migration economists have attempted to investigate the effects of factors beyond the conventional earnings determinants by including cognitive, social capital, and family factors (Fan 2003a;Du et al 2005;Yueh 2008).…”

Market expansion, state intervention and wage differentials between economic sectors in urban China: A multilevel analysis

“…Little research has so far been done on delving into the impact of local conditions on labour market outcomes in the Chinese context, with a few exceptions such as Xu et al (2006) and Chen (2011). Consequently, there is a great need to take into account contextually constituted and locally specific wage-setting mechanisms when studying China's wage inequality.…”