The problem of a shortage of migrant labor is a new development in China's coastal
provinces. We discuss the reasons for this emerging phenomenon using a conceptual
framework that extends the traditional Lewis dualistic labor market model to
incorporate a migrant labor market. We emphasize that migrant labor shortage in
China not only reflects a declining wage gap between what peasants receive and what
migrants can earn in the cities, but also the institutional legacies of the planning
era such as the hukou (household registration) system which discriminates
against migrants vis-a-vis urban residents in terms of access to social insurance
and other social services. We proceed to draw on a unique survey of migrants and
urban residents collected in Jiangsu to show that migrants receive lower incomes,
and they have poorer access to social insurance than those with an urban
registration in China's cities. Our findings have important implications for the
alleviation of the migrant labor shortage problem.
Appleton, Simon
,
John Knight
,
Lina Song
, and
Qingjie Xia.
“
Contrasting Paradigms: Segmentation and Competitiveness in the Formation of
the Chinese Labor Market
” Journal ofi Chinese Economic and Business Studies2, no. 1 (2004):
185—205
.
2.
Ash, Lucy.
“Inside China's Sweatshops” Transcript of a
BBC News Report, 20 July 2002.
@#x3C;http://news.bbc.co.uk/l/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/2139401.stm>,
accessed 19 February 2006.
3.
Bai, Ling.
“
Shortage of Migrant Labor Forced the Restructure of Enterprises Who Profit
Mainly from Employees' Overtime Work
” People's Daily , 25 October
2004. @#x3C;http://www.cfen.cn>, accessed 16 December 2004.
4.
Bechtel, Marilyn.
“
China's Unions Take on the Challenge of Change (Part 2): Migrant Workers
and Building the Future
” The Guardian, 29 September 2004,
14
.
5.
Cai, Fang.Institutional Barriers in Two Processes ofi Rural Labor Migration in
China . Working Paper Series, no. 9.
Beijing: Institution of Population Studies,
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
, 2001.
6.
Cao, Yingyi.“Qianlun dui nongmingong de guanli” (A brief
discussion of administering and controlling the migrant labor force)
. Shanghai laodong baozhang xinxi (Shanghai labor security),
no. 16 (2002):
22—4
.
7.
Chan, Anita.China's Workers under Assault: The Exploitation ofi Labor in a Globalizing
Economy.
Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe
, 2001.
8.
Chan, Anita.
“
Chinese Labor Standards, China's Trade Union Federation and the Question of Engagement
” Paper presented at a conference, “China,
Trade Liberalization and Labor.”
Melbourne, February 2005.
9.
Chan, Anita
, and
Xiaoyang Zhu.
“
Disciplinary Labor Regimes in Chinese Factories
” Critical Asian Studies35, no. 4 (2002):
559—84
.
10.
Chan, Kam Wing
, and
Zhang Li.
“
The Hukou System and Rural-Urban Migration in China: Processes and Changes
” The China Quarterly, no. 160
(1999):
818—55
.
11.
“
China's Guangdong to Be 1 Million Workers Short in 2005
” Reuters (
Beijing
), 5 February 2005.
@#x3C;http://www.reuters.co.in/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp?type=businessNews&localeKey=en_IN&storyID=7546468>,
accessed 12 June 2005.
12.
“
Crises of Shortage of Migrant Workers Facilitate Labor Marketization
” China Financial and Economic News, 17 September
2004 . @#x3C;http://www.cfen.cn>, accessed 16 December
2004 .
13.
Du, Ying.
“ Rural Labor Migration in Contemporary China: An Analysis of
Its Features and the Macro Contest” In Rural Labor Flows
in China, ed.
Loraine West
and
Yaohui Zhao
,
Berkeley: University of California Press
, 2000, 67—100.
14.
Fields, Gary S.
“
Dualism in the Labour Market: A Perspective on the Lewis Model after Half a Century
” The Manchester School72, no. 6 (2004):
724—35
.
15.
Gersovitz, Mark
, ed. Selected Economic Writings ofi W. Arthur Lewis.
New York: New York University Press
, 1983.
16.
Gidwani, Vinay
, and
K. Sivaramakrishnan .
“
Circular Migration and Rural Cosmopolitanism in India
” Contributions to Indian Sociology37, nos 1 and 2 (2003):
339—67
.
17.
Gidwani, Vinay
, and
K. Sivaramakrishnan .
“
Circular Migration and the Spaces of Cultural Assertion
” Annals ofi the Association ofi American Geographers93, no. 1 (2003):
186—213
.
18.
Goldstein, Sidney
,
Lian Zai
, and
Alice Goldstein .
“Migration, Gender and Labor Force in Hubei Province,
1985—1990” In Redrawing Boundaries: Work,
Households and Gender in China, ed.
Barbara Entwisle
and
Gail E. Henderson
, 214—30.
Berkeley
,
Los Angeles
, and
London: University of California Press
, 2000.
19.
“Guangdong jin que mingong baiwan: zhuanjia paoxi `mingong jin'
shi da yuanyin” (Shortage of one million migrant workers in
Guangdong: experts analyze 10 major reasons for a “tighter supply
of migrant workers”)
. Nanfiang ribao (Southern daily), 4 August 2004.
@#x3C;http://finance.tom.com>, accessed 16 December 2004.
20.
Guo, Fei
, and
Robyn Iredale.
“
Unemployment among the Migrant Population in Chinese Cities: Case Study of Beijing
” Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Conference of the
Association for Chinese Economic Studies Australia (ACESA),
RMIT, Melbourne, June 2003.
21.
He, Bo
, and
Huan Cheng.“Gongzi exing jingzheng: mingong de mengyan” (Wages
racing to the bottom: a migrant worker's nightmare)
. Nanfiang laodong baox(Southern labor news), 29 July 2004,
8
.
22.
He, Canfei
, and
Patricia Gober.
“
Gendering Interprovincial Migration in China
” International Migration Review37, no. 4 (2003):
1220—51
.
23.
He, Fang.
“ Consequences of the Health and Safety of
Workers—From Evidence to Action of Intervention”
Unpublished manuscript.
Institute of Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center
for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing
, 2002.
24.
“
Heeding Shortage of Migrant Workers
” Xinhua News Agency , 9 September 2004.
Hong Kong Commercial Daily . 15 September 2002,
B1
.
25.
“
Huge Push to Give Unpaid Wages to Migrant Workers
” Shanghai Daily, 27 August 2004,
3
.
26.
International Labor Organization.
“ China: Promoting Safety and Health in Township and Village
Enterprises”
International Labor Organization Regional Office for Asia and the
Pacific , Bangkok
, 1998.
@#x3C;http:www.ilo.org/public/English>, accessed 17 December 2002.
27.
International Labor Organization.The Construction Industry in the 21st Century: Its Image, Employment Prospects
and Skill Requirements .
Geneva: International Labor Organization
, 2001.
28.
Jacka, Tamara.
“
Finding a Place: Negotiations of Modernization and Globalization among
Rural Women in Beijing
” Critical Asian Studies37, no. 1 (2005):
51—74
.
29.
Jacka, Tamara.Rural Women in Urban China: Gender, Migration and Social Change.
Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe
, 2006.
30.
Jiangsu sheng nong diao ju (Bureau of Jiangsu Rural Economy Survey).“Jiangsu nongcun laodongli zhuanyi xianzhuang de diaocha
baogao” (Investigative update report on the situation of the
Jiangsu rural labor force migration)
. Jiangsu nongcun diaocha jianbao (Jiangsu rural survey
bulletin), 28 February 2004,
9—13
.
31.
o et al.: Migrants as Homo Economicus
32.
Knight, John
, and
Lina Song.
“
Employment Constraints and Sub-Optimality in Chinese Enterprises
” Oxfiord Economic Papers51, no. 2 (1999):
284—99
.
33.
Knight, John
, and
Lina Song.
“
Increasing Urban Wage Inequality in China
” Economics ofi Transition11, no. 4 (2003):
597—619
.
34.
Knight, John
, and
Lina Song
, Towards a Labour Market in China.
Oxford: Oxford University Press
, 2005.
35.
Knight, John
,
Lina Song
, and
Jia Huaibin.
“
Chinese Rural Migrants in Urban Enterprises: Three Perspectives
” Journal ofi Development Studies35, no. 3 (1999):
73—104
. “
Laboring over Workers' Rights
” Beijing Review46, no. 52 (2003):
52—4
.
36.
Levitt, Peggy.
“
Building Bridges: What Migration Scholarship and Cultural Sociology Have to
Say to Each Other
” Poetics33, no. 1 (2005):
49—62
.
37.
Lewis, W. Arthur.
“
Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour
” The Manchester School22, no. 2 (1954):
139—91
.
38.
Lewis, W. Arthur.
“
Unlimited Labour: Further Notes
” The Manchester School26, no. 1 ( 1958):
1—32
.
39.
Lewis, W. Arthur
, “ Reflection on Unlimited Labor” In
International Economics and Development (Essays in Honour ofi Raoul
Prebisch), ed.
Luis Eugenio diMarco
, 75—96.
New York : Academic Press
, 1972.
40.
Lin, Justin
,
Fang Cai
, and
Zhou Li.The Chinese Miracle: Development Strategy and Economic Refiorm.
Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House
, 1996.
41.
Liu, Shan.
“ The All China Federation of Trade Unions Calls for Legal
Enactment for Migrant Workers Protection, and Recommends Measures for Protecting
Migrants' Rights ” 10 November 2004.
@#x3C;http://www.chinanews.com.cn >, accessed 11 November 2004.
42.
Liu, Yue
,
Jie Yue, You Zhang, and Lei Li. “The Shortage of Migrant Workers
Reshapes Labor Relations.” ChinaNewsweek191, no. 29 (2004):
23—5
.
43.
Loscocco, Karyn A.
, and
Christine E. Bose .
“
Gender and Job Satisfaction in Urban China: The Early Post-Mao Period
” Social Science Quarterly79, no. 1 ( 1998):
91—109
.
44.
Ma, Yi Min.
“
Explore the Deeper Reasons of Migrant Labor Shortage: What Labor Standards
Do We Need?
” China Labor Bulletin, 16 November
2004. @#x3C;http://gb.china-labor.org.hk >, accessed 16
December 2004.
45.
Mallee, Hein.
“ Agricultural Labor and Rural Population Mobility: Some
Observations.” In Rural Labor Flows in China, ed. Loraine West and
Yaohui Zhao.
Berkeley: University of California Press
, 2000, 34—66.
46.
Maurer-Fazio, Margaret
, and
Ngan Dinh.
“
Differential Rewards to, and Contributions of, Education in Urban China's
Segmented Labor Markets
” Pacifiic Economic Review9, no. 3 (2004):
173—89
.
47.
Meng, Xin
, and
Junsen Zhang.
“
The Two-Tier Labor Market in Urban China: Occupational Segregation and Wage
Differentials between Urban Residents and Rural Residents
” Journal ofi Comparative Economics29, no. 3 (2001):
485—504
.
48.
“
Migrant Workers Deserve Equality
” China Daily, 25 August 2004,
6
.
49.
“Mingong huang” (Migrant shortage)
. Guangzhou ribao (Guangzhou daily), 6 August 2004.
@#x3C;http://www.cfen.cn>, accessed 16 December 2004.
50.
Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
“ Investigatory Report on Migrant Labor
Shortage” 8 September 2004.
@#x3C;http://www.molss.gov.cn/news/2004/0908a.htm >, accessed 20
December 2004.
51.
Mo, Rong.“Mingong duanque cuisheng quyu jian de chanye jiegou
zhuanyi” (Migrant labor shortage hastens interregion industrial transfer)
. Zhongguo dangzheng ganbu luntan (China forum of Party and
government cadres), no. 12 (2004):
4—7
.
52.
Nanjing shi (Nanjing Municipal Government).Guanyu shenhua huji zhidu gaige de tongzhi (Circular on deepening the reform of
the household registration system).
Nanjing: Nanjing Municipal Government
, 2003.
53.
Nyland, Chris
,
Russell Smyth
, and
Cherrie Zhu.
“
What Determines the Extent to Which Employers Will Comply with Their Social
Security Obligations? Evidence from Chinese Firm Level Data
” Social Policy and Administration40, no. 2 (2006):
196—214
.
54.
Pan, Phillip.
“
Poisoned Back into Poverty: As China Embraces Capitalism Hazards to Workers Rise
” Washington Post, 4 August 2004 ,
A01
.
55.
“
Perspectives on Price Gaming between Enterprises and Employees
” China Financial and Economic News, 13 September
2004 . @#x3C;http://www.cfen.cn>, accessed 16 December 2004.
56.
“
Poor Pay, Harsh Conditions Cause Labor Shortage in China's South
” Xinhua News Agency, 9 September 2004.
57.
“
Positive Implications of the `Shortage of Migrant Labor
.'” People's Daily, 10 September
2004
. @#x3C;http://www.cfen.cn>, accessed 16 December
2004 .
58.
“
Protection of Rural Migrants' Rights Urged
” Xinhua News Agency, 10 March 2004.
Roberts, Kenneth.
“
The Determinants of Job Choice by Rural Labor Migrants in Shanghai
” China Economic Review12, no. 1 (2001):
15—39
.
59.
Solinger, Dorothy J.Contesting Citizenship in Urban China: Peasant Migrants, the State, and the
Logic ofi the Market.
Los Angeles
and
London: University of California Press
, 1999.
60.
Solinger, Dorothy J.
“
Globalization and the Paradox of Participation: The China Case
” Global Governance7, no. 2 (2001):
173—96
.
61.
State Statistical Bureau
. Statistical Yearbook ofi Jiangsu2004. @#x3C;http://www.jssb.gov.cn/sjzl/tjnj/2004/nj05.htm
>, accessed 15 December 2005.
62.
Sun, Zhi.
“
Dongguan: Labor Shortage Amazed the Pearl River Belt
” China Newsweek191, no. 29 (2004):
19—20
.
63.
Tian, Yongsheng.“Cai Fang: ruhe shi laodongli yaoshu jiage bu zai bei
niuqu” (Cai Fang: how to correct the distortion of labor factor
prices: an interview with Cai Fang)
. Guangming ribao (Guangming daily), 19 October
2004. @#x3C;http://finance.sina.come.cn>, accessed 16
December 2004.
64.
United States Embassy in China.
“Hukou Reform Targets Urban-Rural Divide”
February 2005.
@#x3C;http://www.usembassy-china.org/econ/hukou.html>, accessed 25
May 2005.
65.
Wakabayashi, Keiko.
“
Migration from Rural to Urban Areas in China
” The Developing Economies28, no. 4 (1990):
503—23
.
66.
Wang, Feng
, and
Xuejin Zuo.
“
Inside China's Cities: Institutional Barriers and Opportunities for Urban Migrants
” American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings89, no. 2 (1999):
276—80
.
67.
Wang, Feng
,
Xuejin Zuo
, and
Danqing Ruan.
“
Rural Migrants in Shanghai: Living under the Shadow of Socialism
” International Migration Review36, no. 4 (2002):
520—45
.
Watts, Michael.“Capitalism, Crises and Cultures. Part 1: Notes Towards
a Totality of Fragments.” In Reworking Modernity:
Capitalisms and Symbolic Discontent, ed.
Allen Pred
and
Michael Watts
, 1—20.
New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press
, 1992.
70.
o et al.: Migrants as Homo Economicus
71.
Wu, Harry X.
, and
Li Zhou.
“
Rural to Urban Migration in China
” Asian-Pacifiic Economic Literature10, no. 2 (1996):
54—67
.
72.
Wuxi shi (Wuxi Municipal Government).Guanyu shenhua huji zhidu gaige de tongzhi (Circular on deepening the reform of
the household registration system).
Wuxi: Wuxi Municipal Government
, 2003.
73.
Xu, Zhigang
, and
Ran Tao.
“
Urbanization, Rural Land System and Social Security in China
” China and the World Economy12, no. 6 (2004):
11—23
.
74.
Yang, Dennis Tao
, and
Hao Zhou.
“
Rural-Urban Disparity and Sectoral Labor Allocation in China
” Journal ofi Development Studies35, no. 3 (1999):
105—33
.
75.
Yang, Quanhe
, and
Fei Guo.
“
Occupational Attainment of Rural to Urban Temporary Economic Migrants in
China 1985—1990
” International Migration Review30, no. 3 (1996):
771—87
.
76.
Yao, Zuo
, and
Jin Peng.
“
Upgrade Your Industry as Indicated by the Shortage of Migrant Workers in
the Zhujiang Pearl Delta Region
” People's Daily, 20 April 2005.
@#x3C;http://www.cfen.cn >, accessed 22 April 2005.
77.
Zhang, Jun.
“
Coping with the Shortage of Migrant Workers: Zhejiang Plans to Raise
Minimum Wage Standards in Order to Retain Migrant Workers
” China News, 3 October 2004.
@#x3C;http://www.chinanews.com.cn >, accessed 6 October 2004.
78.
Zhang, Xiaoshan.“Xi woguo `mingong huang' xianxiang” (Analysis of the
phenomenon of “migrant labor shortage”)
. Zhongguo qingnian bao (China youth daily), 18 October
2004. @#x3C;http://cn.news.yahoo.com>, accessed 16
December 2004.
79.
Zhao, Yaohui.
“
Labor Migration and Earnings Differences: The Case of China
” Economic Development and Cultural Change47, no. 4 (1999):
767—82
.
80.
Zhao, Yaohui.
“ Rural-to-Urban Labor Migration in China: The Past and the
Present” In Rural Labor Flows in China, ed.
Loraine West
and
Yaohui Zhao
, 15—33.
Berkeley: University of California Press
, 2000.
81.
Zhao, Yaohui.
“
Causes and Consequences of Return Migration: Recent Evidence from China
” Journal ofi Comparative Economics30, no. 2 (2002):
376—94
.
82.
“
Zhongguo zaoyu 20 nian lai shouci `mingong huang'” (China has
encountered a “shortage of migrant workers” for the
first time in two decades)
. Nangfiang zhoumo (Southern weekend), 15 July
2004. @#x3C;http://www.china.com.cn>, accessed 16 July 2004.
