Study on the Income Effect of Stable Employment Among Ethnic Minorities in China and Its Mechanism: A Sociological Perspective

Abstract

Employment stability is key to high-quality employment for China’s ethnic minorities. This study explores its income effect on them, using 2012 to 2021 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data, with robustness tests via propensity score matching and instrumental variables, and Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) decomposition for mediating mechanisms. Results show ethnic minorities with stable employment earn more: it enhances workplace status and income-generating social capital, and boosts off-work investment, expanding income channels. The effect is stronger for youth; the income gap between stable/unstable employment is larger among males and in non-ethnic autonomous regions. Recommendations include improving their employment stability, fostering workplace social capital, enhancing investment awareness of the unstably employed, and prioritizing stability for youth, males, and those in non-ethnic autonomous regions to promote common prosperity.

Plain Language Summary

How Stable Jobs Affect the Income of China’s Ethnic Minorities, and Why: A Sociological Perspective

Stable employment is crucial for quality jobs among China’s ethnic minorities. This study examines how stable jobs impact their income, using data from the 2012–2021 Chinese General Social Survey(CGSS). Findings were validated through various statistical methods, with an analysis of the underlying mechanisms. Results show ethnic minorities with stable jobs earn more. This is because stable employment enhances their workplace status and income-boosting social connections, while also increasing off-work investments to expand income sources. The income effect is stronger for young people. The income gap between stable and unstable employment is wider among men and in non-ethnic autonomous regions. Recommendations include improving employment stability for ethnic minorities, fostering workplace social capital, and enhancing investment awareness among the unstably employed. Priority should be given to boosting stability for young people, men, and those in non-ethnic autonomous regions to promote common prosperity.

Keywords

stable employment ethnic minorities social capital investment behavior common prosperity

Introduction

With the factors such as market reforms and the advancement of information technology, the number of individuals engaged in unstable employment in China has been on the rise. According to data provided by the Chinese government, the figure for flexible employment reached 200 million people in 2021. The Chinese government attaches great importance to employment issues, long holding the principle of prioritizing employment in policy-making, and has introduced a range of policies to support employment. The population of China encompasses 55 formally acknowledged ethnic minorities as well as Han majority, forming a rich tapestry of cultural diversity. Due to historical and other multifaceted factors, China exhibits significant regional development disparities: western regions, particularly the less-developed areas with dense ethnic minority populations, lag behind. By paying attention to the income gap between stable and unstable employments among ethnic minorities and examining the features of employment stability in this demographic, we can work toward rectifying inadequacies in the employment sphere concerning minorities, enhancing their employment circumstances and quality of life, thereby promoting ethnic unity and prosperous development in China.

The global proliferation of employment stability has long been an important topic of academic concern. Since the rise of neoliberalism in Western societies, employers have increasingly favored flexible employment to reduce costs, and forms of unstable employment have flourished (Kalleberg, 2000, 2009). In this study, Stable Work refers to a standardized work relationship between a worker and an employer, where the worker receives a basic income and labor security from the employer, while Precarious Work refers to the absence of a work relationship between the worker and the employer, or a non-standardized work relationship between the worker and the employer. Some studies based on Chinese migrant workers suggest that those in precarious work are not necessarily at a disadvantage in terms of income compared to those in stable employment (Shi et al., 2022). Intersectionality theory suggests that an individual’s position in society is usually closely related to the individual’s multiple identities (Choo & Ferree, 2010; Collins & Sirma, 2020). Among ethnic minorities, there may be differences in income between those in stable employment and those in unstable employment, and there may also be differences in the impact of employment stability among ethnic minorities with different identities.

Global studies on precarious work have primarily focused on labor markets in Western neoliberal contexts, centering on general workers or migrant populations rather than ethnic minorities in transitional economies, which are characterized by both cultural specificity and regional development disparities. Research on ethnic minority income gaps has mostly emphasized ethnic stratification but overlooked employment stability as a critical mediating variable. This study addresses this gap by focusing on China’s ethnic minorities, a group embedded in China’s unique context of uneven east-west economic development, regional ethnic autonomy, and household registration (hukou) and social security differences. It is the first to systematically analyze how stable employment affects ethnic minorities’ income, responding to global discussions on the income effects of precarious work while revealing the link between employment quality and income for ethnic minorities in non-Western contexts. This supplements the transitional economy sample in global ethnic minority labor market research. Specifically, this study focuses on the following questions: does stable employment increase the income of minority workers? If so, what are the mechanisms by which stable employment increases income? Are there differences in the returns to stable employment for different ethnic minorities?

Literature Review and Research Hypotheses

Literature Review

The relationship between unstable employment and income is a hot topic in the global academic community. Western studies have found that people in unstable employment have relatively poor working conditions, are often disadvantaged at work (Kalleberg et al., 2000), and face more stress from income loss and income uncertainty (Barbieri, 2009; Dube & Kaplan, 2010; Kauhanen & Nätti, 2015; Latner & Saks, 2022; Wilson & Ebert, 2013).

In the Chinese context, many workers are in an unstable state of employment, which is closely related to their incomplete citizenship (Feng, 2019), and employment stability is an important factor affecting workers’ wage income (J. Li, 2018). Temporary workers tend to have a higher level of income poverty and suffer more economic deprivation (Hao & Lin, 2024). Informal employment will widen the gap between the probability of unemployment and the level of social insurance (Chen et al., 2022). Unstable employment entering the labor market will cause long-term trauma to one’s career (Xu et al., 2024). Researchers have also focused on the income gap between those in stable employment and those in unstable employment within some particular groups. For urban migrant worker groups, wage earnings are significantly higher for those in stable employment than for those in unstable employment, and returns to education are higher for those in stable employment than for those in unstable employment (Huang, 2009); Migrant worker groups with greater employment stability face fewer income risks, have a stronger willingness to reside in the city for the long term and consume at a higher level (L. Liu, 2021). However, there is also some research that suggests that unstable forms of employment do not necessarily lead to negative individual income effects within each group (Shi et al., 2022). For example, compared to formal employment, the negative impact of informal employment on the incomes of low-income and low-income households is extremely limited, and the role of informal employment in stabilizing poverty cannot be denied (Fan, 2023). So, within China’s ethnic minorities, is there an income gap between those in stable employment and those in unstable employment?

Income attainment of ethnic minorities is another important topic of concern in the policy area and in the academic field. Current research results mainly focus on the following aspects: First, comparing the income gap between ethnic minority and Han Chinese workers and analyzing the causes. The poverty rate of ethnic minorities is higher, the possibility of participating in the labor market is less, and they are more likely to suffer from wage discrimination (Hannum & Xie, 1998; Howell, 2013). The income gap is mainly due to the differences in human capital and social capital (L. Liu et al., 2019). Second, focus on the human capital factors that affect ethnic minorities’ income acquisition and poverty alleviation (Gustafsson & Sai, 2009). Education, as an important form of human capital, can significantly improve the quality of employment for ethnic minority workers (Song et al., 2017). In particular, proficiency in the national common language is an important form of human capital that affects ethnic minorities’ ability to earn income and escape from poverty (Jiang & Liu, 2020).

In conclusion, existing research has paid less attention to the impact of different forms of employment on income within ethnic minorities in China. As a matter of fact, when choosing jobs, ethnic minorities will consider social and cultural traditions more (J. Yang, 2023), also have their own preferences for jobs in the labor market; and employers in the labor market may also selectively provide corresponding jobs for different ethnic minorities. Therefore, understanding the income gap brought by different job attributes is of great significance in helping ethnic minorities and promoting the common prosperity of all ethnic groups. Employment stability is one of the important job attributes.

Analytical Framework and Research Hypotheses

While most of the research on employment stability focuses on the differences in employer linkages between those in stable and unstable employment from an organizational perspective, this study focuses on both the returns to income that ethnic minority workers receive within their jobs and the returns to income they receive outside their jobs. According to the analytical framework in Figure 1, on the one hand, stable employment can lead to income growth by improving the social status of ethnic minority workers in the workplace; on the other hand, there is a spillover effect of employment stability, workers who have gained a stable status in the workplace are more capable and confident of expanding their income outside of the workplace, which contributes to the overall income growth.

Figure 1.

Analytical framework.

In the New Institutional Economics (NIE), external institutional or economic endogenous factors lead to the segmentation of the labor market into multiple areas. Under the Labor Market Segmentation (LMS) regime, the primary and secondary labor markets perform different operations and wage determination mechanisms (Doeringer & Piore, 1971). According to the existing literature, only a few studies emphasize that the precariously employed may have an advantage in terms of earnings, while most Western studies suggest that the precariously employed are at a disadvantage in terms of earnings, and this effect is more negative in countries with closed, highly segmented and highly regulated labor markets (Latner & Saks, 2022). Based on real-life experience, in China, employment stability has gradually become a labor market attribute with segmentation ability (J. Li, 2018). In this case, stable employment among ethnic minorities tends to be able to establish better ties with organizations and thus accept the income security of the labor market. As a result, this study proposes the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1: Stable employment has a positive impact on raising the income of ethnic minorities.

There is a strong link between employment stability and the accumulation of social capital in individuals. Currently, there are differences in social capital between workers in formal and informal employment (F. Yang & Pan, 2019). Especially for ethnic minorities, social capital is an important factor affecting their access to income (X. Li, 2022). The positive impact of social capital on income has also been well documented in the Chinese context (Wang & Zhou, 2013). In a given workplace, the social network and social capital accumulated by workers within the workplace are important factors affecting income (W. Liu et al., 2016). In conclusion, the difference in social capital accumulated in the workplace between those in stable employment and those in unstable employment in ethnic minorities is an important reason for the difference in their income. This corresponds to the following research hypotheses:

Hypothesis 2: Stable employment enhances the status of ethnic minority workers in the work network and therefore higher earnings.

Another important aspect of employment stability is the reduction of individual vulnerability and distress (Mirowsky & Ross, 2003). Indeed, for the precariously employed, their jobs often revolve around the demands of their employers, and their needs at work are less likely to be met and less protected at work (Panikkar et al., 2015). On the one hand, insecurity is relatively higher for the precariously employed (Kang et al., 2016). When income stability is poor, residents are also relatively less likely to choose to invest. On the other hand, investment behavior is an important channel for individuals to obtain income and escape from poverty (Beck et al., 2007). In this case, more investment behavior may be one of the important reasons for the higher income of the stably employed. This implies the following research hypothesis:

Hypothesis 3: Stable employment increases minority workers’ investment behavior outside of work and therefore higher earnings.

Data, Variables and Models

Data

The data used in this study is the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data. The survey adopts a multi-stage stratified sampling method with good representativeness in China. The survey has focused on the career development and income status of individuals in all the years of data. In this study, a total of six periods of data from CGSS2012, CGSS2013, CGSS2015, CGSS2017, CGSS2018, and CGSS2021 were combined together to form mixed cross-sectional data. According to the purpose of the study, the following data screening was carried out: firstly, the samples of ethnic minorities were retained in the data, totaling 5,299. Secondly, samples with jobs in urban areas were retained in the sample of ethnic minorities, totaling 1,283. Thirdly, 37 samples of individuals aged over 65 from the labor force were excluded, leaving a sample size of 1,246. In this study, some variables contained missing values, so this study used multiple interpolation to interpolate the independent variable (employment stability), the dependent variable (income), and the mediating variable (being asked for favors and investment behavior), and used listwise deletion to delete samples containing missing values in the control variables, and the final sample size entering the analysis of this study was 1,035. This study also reports the results of the regression analysis without the use of multiple imputation in the robustness test section, and its findings are consistent with existing studies.

Variables

Dependent Variable

The dependent variable in this study is individual income. Individuals were asked about their income status in each period of the CGSS. This study adjusts the income in each period of the CGSS based on the price index of China in 2012 and excludes the samples whose income is less than 3,000 yuan based on references to existing studies. Considering the non-normal distribution of income, this study incorporates income into the model after taking the logarithm of income.

Independent Variables

The independent variable in this study is employment stability. In this study, temporary staff, workers without employing organization, workers with employing organization but working part-time, and workers working in the private sector without labor contract are categorized as unstable employment, while the rest of the workers are stable employment. For data manipulation, this study assigns a value of 1 to the stable employment and 0 to the unstable employment.

Mediating Variables

This study mainly includes two mediating variables, status in the work network and investment behavior outside of work. This study mainly measures the status of workers in the work network through the frequency of being asked for favors. Being asked for favors aligns with the core connotation of guanxi and workplace social status in the Chinese context. Existing studies on Chinese social capital emphasize that guanxi is not merely a passive social network, but a reciprocal resource-exchange system (Bian, 1997)—being asked for favors by colleagues implicitly reflects that the respondent is perceived as a trustworthy, resourceful, or reliable actor in the workplace. This passive interaction frequency can effectively capture the “instrumental dimension” of workplace social status. Existing studies have shown that being asked for favors is closely related to an individual’s social network size and social network diversity, reflecting the mobilization of China’s guanxi society (Cheng & Yuan, 2023). Surveys since CGSS2012 have asked workers about being asked for favors in work, and were recorded in this study as follows: “At your current workplace, is it common for someone to want to do things for you through your job accommodations to do things for him/her? (Never = 1, Rarely = 2, Sometimes = 3, Often = 4, Always = 5)” Investment behavior was obtained mainly through the following question in the CGSS: “Does your household currently engage in any of the following investment activities?.” Those without any investment behavior were assigned a value of 0 and the rest were assigned a value of 1.

Control Variables

The control variables in this study include three main aspects: first, there are differences in income status across years, thus the survey period is controlled in the model; second, in previous studies, the basic status of the individual, such as gender, age (with an inverted U-shaped relationship with income), marital status, household registration (non-agricultural household registration, non-local household registration), and human capital status (years of education, political status, and health status) can have an impact on an individual’s income and are thus controlled for in the data analysis of this study. Finally, the family background may also affect individual income, thus this study controls for years of parental education. The descriptive statistics of the main variables in this study are shown in Table 1.

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics of the Main Variables.

Variable	N	Mean	Standard deviation	Minimum value	Maximum values
Income (log)	1,035	10.277	0.970	7.783	14.331
Stable employment	1,035	0.470	0.499	0	1
Male	1,035	0.542	0.498	0	1
Age	1,035	38.912	10.884	18	65
Years of education	1,035	11.574	4.362	0	19
Member of the Communist Party of China	1,035	0.172	0.378	0	1
Non-agricultural household registration	1,035	0.651	0.477	0	1
Non-local household registration	1,035	0.235	0.424	0	1
Married	1,035	0.821	0.383	0	1
Health status	1,035	3.967	0.924	1	5
Years of father’s education	1,035	7.290	4.768	0	19
Years of mother’s education	1,035	5.299	4.842	0	19
Being asked for favors	1,035	1.876	1.015	1	5
Investment behavior	1,035	0.113	0.317	0	1

Model

The core dependent variable of this study is income, so it is analyzed using a multiple linear regression model after taking the logarithm of income. The base regression is set as:

\ln (income)_{i} = θ_{0} + θ_{1} stable employmen t_{i} + \partial X + ε_{i}

(1)

where the $\ln (income)_{i}$ represents the logarithm of the i respondent’s income; $stable employmen t_{i}$ is the logarithm of the income of the i respondent’s employment stability status, and if it is stable employment, then $stable employmen t_{i}$ = 1; X represents the set of a series of control variables that affect an individual’s income, including gender, age, marital status, household registration status, human capital status, years of parental education, and survey period; $θ_{0}$ represents the intercept term, and $ε_{i}$ represents the residual term of the model.

Considering the possible endogeneity between stable employment and income, this study uses change of sample selection, propensity score matching and instrumental variables method for robustness testing.

In order to verify the mediation effect of being asked for favors and investment behaviors, this study uses a combination of the KHB (Karlson-Holm-Breen; Karlson et al., 2012) method.

Results of Data Analysis

Baseline Regression Results

The results in Table 2 reveal the impact of stable employment on income for minority groups. Model 1 does not control for any variables and incorporates only the variable of stable employment. The results show that among minority groups, those with stable employment have relatively higher incomes. On average, those with stable employment earn about 51.5% more than those with unstable employment and are significant at the 1% level. Model 2, which incorporates the control variables of this study, shows a decrease in the coefficient of stable employment, but the income of the stable employment is still 22.1% higher at the 1% level of significance compared to the unstable employed. Hypothesis 1 of this study is supported. As far as other control variables are concerned, the income of males is significantly higher than that of females; there is a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between age and income; each additional year of education increases the ethnic minority group’s income by about 6.1% on average; member of the Communist Party of China, non-agricultural household registration, and non-local household registration have significantly higher incomes; ethnic minority laborers who are in better health are likely to have higher incomes; the number of years of father’s education has no significant effect on the ethnic minority worker’s income, but the number of years of education of mother’s can positively and significantly increase the income of ethnic minority workers, with each year of mother’s education increasing the income of ethnic minority workers by 1.3%.

Table 2.

Estimated Coefficients from Ordinary Linear Regression Predicting Income.

	Model 1	Model 2
Stable employment	0.515*** (0.059)	0.221*** (0.052)
Male		0.298*** (0.049)
Age		0.072*** (0.017)
Square of age		−0.089*** (0.021)
Years of education		0.061*** (0.008)
Member of the Communist Party of China		0.206*** (0.071)
Non-agricultural household registration		0.116* (0.064)
Non-local household registration		0.296*** (0.060)
Married		0.046 (0.075)
Health status		0.092*** (0.027)
Years of father’s education		0.003 (0.007)
Years of mother’s education		0.013* (0.007)
2013		0.329*** (0.075)
2015		0.542*** (0.081)
2017		0.702*** (0.075)
2018		0.744*** (0.075)
2021		0.869*** (0.098)
Constant	10.035*** (0.039)	6.809*** (0.357)
N	1,035	1,035
R ²	0.070	0.398
Adj. R²	0.069	0.388

Note.*, **, and *** denote statistical significance at the 10%, 5%, and 1% significance levels, respectively.

Table 3 presents the results of the quantile regression of the impact of stable employment on income. The coefficients of stable employment are .249 and .347 at the 5th and 95th percentiles respectively, and satisfy the requirement of significance; the coefficients of stable employment are relatively lower at the 20th, 50th and 80th percentiles. This suggests that the difference between stable and unstable employment is more pronounced in the lower and higher percentiles. The visualization in Figure 2 shows this conclusion more clearly. The vertical coordinate in Figure 2 represents the income advantage of those in stable employment over those in unstable employment, and the horizontal coordinate represents the quantile. According to Figure 3, those in stable employment earn significantly more than those in unstable employment at any quartile point (the lowest end of the 90% confidence interval is mostly above 0). The results of the fitted line indicate that the advantage of workers in stable employment is greater at the lower percentile versus the higher percentile.

Table 3.

Estimated Coefficients from Quantile Regression Predicting Income.

	5th percentile	20th percentile	50th percentile	80th percentile	95th percentile
Stable employment	0.249** (0.119)	0.172*** (0.066)	0.183*** (0.055)	0.088 (0.069)	0.347*** (0.122)
Control variables	Controlled	Controlled	Controlled	Controlled	Controlled
Constant	5.610*** (0.794)	6.208*** (0.440)	6.839*** (0.365)	7.590*** (0.460)	7.533*** (0.819)
N	1,035	1,035	1,035	1,035	1,035
Pseudo R²	0.241	0.272	0.231	0.229	0.238

Figure 2.

Quantile regression of the impact of stable employment on income.

Figure 3.

Heterogeneous treatment effects of stable employment affecting income.

Mechanism Analysis

Table 4 analyzes the mediation effects of being asked for favors and investment behavior in the relationship between stable employment and income for ethnic minorities. The results of Model 3 indicate that those in stable employment are more likely to be asked for favors at work after controlling for other variables. According to Model 4, the behavior of being asked for favors has a significant positive effect on income, and the coefficient of stable employment decreases compared to Model 2, which suggests that stable employment can enhance the income of ethnic minority workers by increasing their status at work, and Hypothesis 2 is supported. Investment behavior is a dichotomous variable, so the logit model is used for analysis. From the results of Model 5, stable employment will have a significant positive impact on investment behavior, and the incidence ratio of investment behavior in stable employment is 96.2% (e^0.674–1) higher than that of those in unstable employment. Model 6 also shows that investment behavior is an important factor affecting income, and the coefficient of stable employment has decreased compared to Model 2. This also means that Hypothesis 3 of this study is supported.

Table 4.

Mechanism Analysis of the Impact of Stable Employment on Income.

	Model 3, being asked for favors	Model 4, income	Model 5, investment behavior	Model 6,income	Model 7, income
Stable employment	0.130* (0.068)	0.210*** (0.052)	0.674*** (0.242)	0.200*** (0.052)	0.190*** (0.052)
Being asked for favors		0.083*** (0.024)			0.355*** (0.083)
Investment behavior				0.362*** (0.084)	0.080*** (0.024)
Constant	0.897** (0.442)	6.734*** (0.355)	−11.406*** (2.131)	6.958*** (0.354)	6.884*** (0.352)
N	1,035	1,035	1,035	1,035	1,035
Pseudo R²			0.214
R ²	0.060	0.405		0.410	0.417
Adj. R²	0.045	0.395		0.400	0.406

Table 5 decomposes the effect of stable employment on individual income for ethnic minorities using the KHB method. When the mediating variables are included individually, being asked for favors and investment behavior explain 4.88% and 9.66% of the positive impact of stable employment on income respectively, and when all the mediating variables are included in the model, being asked for favors and investment behavior explain a total of 14.17% of the impact of stable employment on income.

Table 5.

Decomposing the Mediation Effect of Stable Employment on Income Based on the KHB Method.

Variable	Total effect	Direct effect	Indirect effect	Percentage of indirect effect (%)
Being asked for favors	0.221***	0.210***	0.011**	4.88
Investment behavior	0.221***	0.200***	0.021***	9.66
Full model	0.221***	0.190***	0.031***	14.17

Robustness Tests

Firstly, instead of using multiple imputation, this study attempts to remove all samples containing missing values for analysis to explore whether stable employment has an impact on income. The results in Table 6 show that the income of those in stable employment is still significantly higher than those in unstable employment, by about 26.4% on average.

Table 6.

Results of Robustness Tests Based on Change of Sample Selection.

	Dealing with missing values by using listwise deletion	Exclusion of self-employed groups
Stable employment	0.264*** (0.055)	0.153*** (0.053)
Constant term	6.871*** (0.367)	6.847*** (0.371)
N	910	790
R ²	0.427	0.456
Adj. R²	0.416	0.444

Secondly, there is a controversy in the academic community about the division of stable employment and unstable employment. Some studies have excluded the self-employed group from the analysis (Zhu, 2022). Therefore, this study excludes the self-employed group from the analysis in the robustness test section, and the results show that the income of those in stable employment is on average about 15.3% higher than that of those in unstable employment, and the coefficient is significant at the 1% level of significance.

Thirdly, this study used propensity score matching to reduce sample selection bias. Whether ethnic minorities are able to stabilize their employment is often related to factors such as their own human capital status and family background. This study used gender, age, years of education, membership of the Communist Party of China, household registration, marital status, health status, years of father’s education, years of mother’s education, and survey period as covariates for propensity score matching. In this study, three main matching methods, nearest neighbor matching (1:5), kernel matching and radius matching with a caliper width of 0.01, were used for the analysis. In Table 7, none of the LR chi-square values of the covariates after matching were significant and the mean bias was less than 10%. This indicates that for the covariates in this study, there is no significant gap between the two groups and the matching is more effective. The average treatment effect on the treated refers to the average difference in income between being in stable employment versus unstable employment for those in stable employment. For the purpose of this study, the coefficient values for all three types of matching are positively significant at the 1% significance level. This suggests that the findings of this study are robust to the extent that the sample selection problem has been addressed.

Table 7.

Results of Robustness Tests Based on Propensity Score Matching (PSM).

	Covariate balance test		Average treatment effect on the treated
	LR chi2 (p-value)	Mean bias	Coefficient value	Standard error
Nearest neighbor matching	4.93 (.993)	2.3	0.344***	0.073
Kernel matching	2.64 (1.000)	2.1	0.276***	0.065
Radius matching	3.07 (1.000)	2.0	0.304***	0.067

Finally, this study used the instrumental variables method for robustness testing. Considering that the spillover effect of spouse on individual is an important source of instrumental variables, this study adopts employment stability of respondent’s spouse as an instrumental variable for stable employment. The instrumental variable is correlated with the endogenous variable because the spouse of an individual, as a significant other, influence individual’s employment choices; the spouse’s occupational behaviors are relatively independent of that individual’s behaviors and are exogenous. Table 8 reports the results of this study’s 2sls-based instrumental variables analysis. The F-value in the first stage is greater than 10, indicating that there is no weak instrumental variable problem. From the regression results, it is clear that those who are steadily employed still have a significant advantage in terms of income.

Table 8.

Results of Robustness Tests Based on the Instrumental Variables (IV) Method.

	First-stage regression	Second-stage regression
Spouse’s stable employment	0.292*** (0.045)
Stable employment		0.617** (0.260)
Control variable	Controlled	Controlled
Constant	−0.478* (0.267)	6.653*** (0.584)
N	622
F	42.249

Heterogeneity Analysis

This study focuses on the impact of stable employment on income among ethnic minorities with different characteristics (Table 9). First, for the youth group, there is a significant difference between stable and unstable employment, with those in stable employment earning more, while for the middle-aged group, there is no significant difference between stable employment and unstable employment. The insignificant effect of stable employment for middle-aged ethnic minorities reflects generational gaps in access to high-tier stable jobs, which is driven by China’s higher education expansion since the 21st century. Unlike young minorities who gain degrees to enter high-tier roles, middle-aged ones have lower education, with stable jobs in low-tier areas offering limited wage growth and no upward mobility. Their unstable jobs bring similar income, eliminating the income gap between stable and unstable employment.

Table 9.

Heterogeneity Test on the Effect of Stable Employment on Income.

	Youth group	Middle-age group	Female	Male	Non-minority province	Minority province
Stable employment	0.308*** (0.061)	0.038 (0.096)	0.145** (0.068)	0.261*** (0.076)	0.245*** (0.063)	0.155 (0.098)
Control variable	Controlled	Controlled	Controlled	Controlled	Controlled	Controlled
Constant term	8.380*** (0.178)	7.877*** (0.270)	6.903*** (0.464)	7.158*** (0.497)	6.594*** (0.437)	7.410*** (0.613)
N	736	299	474	561	751	284
R ²	0.389	0.421	0.491	0.358	0.401	0.385
Adj. R²	0.376	0.390	0.473	0.339	0.387	0.346

Secondly, stable employment has a significant positive impact on income for both women and men, but the gap between stable employment and unstable employment is larger in the male group. For female ethnic minorities, stable employment is predominantly concentrated in the low-tier stable segment, a pattern shaped by both structural constraints and gendered role expectations. Rooted in the gendered division of labor (F. Yang & He, 2022), female ethnic minorities often prioritize occupational stability over income growth to fulfill family responsibilities such as caregiving for children or elderly family members. This preference leads them to self-select into low-skill, low-wage stable jobs such as administrative support, elementary service roles, or routine manufacturing positions where job security is guaranteed but wage levels are barely above the minimum standard. These jobs lack the characteristics of the high-tier stable segment such as professional skills, decision-making authority, or institutionalized salary progression that drive significant income advantages.

Finally, the difference between stable and unstable employment is relatively small and statistically insignificant in the minority autonomous regions of China, while in the non-minority autonomous provinces, there is a significant gap between the income of those in stable employment and those in unstable employment. The weak income effect of stable employment in ethnic autonomous regions stems from the regional segmentation of labor markets (J. Li, 2018). Most ethnic autonomous regions are located in western China and have lagging industrial structures dominated by low-value-added sectors such as traditional agriculture, resource extraction, and basic retail. Stable employment in these regions is primarily provided by local public institutions such as elementary schools and community service centers or small-scale local enterprises. These jobs operate in the low-tier stable segment due to constrained fiscal resources and market demand. As a matter of fact, ethnic minorities need to rely on their own subjective motivation as well as the active support of national policies to get rid of poverty and become rich. Especially after the influence of modernization, the traditional structure of ethnic minority societies has changed (Huan & Wang, 2022). Ethnic minorities have begun to actively seek outside forces to change their own situation, such as a large number of migrant workers. Changing the income disadvantage of precariously employed ethnic minorities in non-ethnic autonomous provinces will help promote the common prosperity of the Chinese nation.

In addition, this study uses heterogeneous treatment effects (Brand & Xie, 2010; Xie et al., 2012), to analyze which part of the group would benefit more from stable employment in terms of income. In Figure 3, the vertical coordinate represents the treatment effects and the horizontal coordinate represents the propensity score of minority individuals to engage in stable employment. According to Figure 3, for samples with low propensity scores (workers least likely to engage in stable employment) and for those with high propensity scores (workers most likely to engage in stable employment), engaging in stable employment does not have a significant positive effect, and only for samples with medium propensity scores (workers with medium likelihood of engaging in stable employment), stable employment has a significant positive effect on income.

Conclusions and Discussion

This study analyzes the significance of stable employment in increasing the income of China’s ethnic minorities using data from CGSS (2012–2021). The conclusions of this study show that: first, the income of ethnic minorities in stable employment is significantly higher than that of those in unstable employment, and robust conclusions are drawn using methods of changing sample selection, propensity score matching and instrumental variables; in particular, the income-enhancing effect of stable employment will be more obvious for groups in the lower income percentile and the higher income percentile. Second, for ethnic minorities in China, the income-enhancing effect of stable employment is mainly realized through the following two mechanisms: on the one hand, ethnic minorities’ stable employment establishes a more stable connection with their workplaces, accumulates certain social resources through their workplaces, and is more likely to obtain a higher status in the work network, which enables them to increase their income. On the other hand, ethnic minorities in stable employment have better expectations of their individual income, and they can boldly try investment behaviors such as stocks and bonds, which play a key role in income growth. Finally, the income-generating effect of stable employment varies among different types of ethnic minorities, which is mainly manifested in the following: for the youth group, the income-generating effect of stable employment is more obvious; the income gap between those in stable employment and those in unstable employment is relatively larger among ethnic minority males; and the income gap between those in stable employment and those in unstable employment is more obvious in the provinces of non-ethnic autonomous regions. The income-generating effect of stable employment is greater for workers with a medium likelihood of being in stable employment. The heterogeneous effects can be systematically explained by the Labor Market Segmentation Theory (Reich et al., 1973). A critical extension of this theory in the Chinese context is the internal stratification within stable employment itself: not all stable jobs belong to the high-return primary segment. Instead, a large share of stable employment for vulnerable groups falls into a low-tier stable segment with limited income growth potential. This internal differentiation explains why the income gap between stable and unstable employment is weak for certain ethnic minority subgroups.

Theoretically, this study validates the stable-unstable income segmentation model in the context of ethnic minorities in China, and reveals the dual mechanism by which employment stability affects income from the perspective of inside and outside work. We also reveal the dual mechanism by which employment stability affects income. The effect of stable employment on individuals is not only to provide shelter from organization, but also has a spillover effect, which creates more subjectivity and choice for individuals in areas outside of work. Future research should not only explore the impact of stable employment on status and power relations within organizations at the organizational level, but also pay attention to the full range of possible spillover effects of employment stability in the broader social space.

In terms of policy, the conclusions of this study have the following policy implications. First, short-term interventions for ethnic minority workers in unstable employment aim to focus on immediate capacity building, mitigate income uncertainty-induced risk aversion, and activate the mediating role of investment behavior, including launching workshops on national common language proficiency, vocational skills, and financial literacy. Second, structural reforms aim to reshape the institutional employment environment by targeting labor market segmentation in non-autonomous regions and addressing interrupted social security contributions. As signing labor contracts has a positive impact on the willingness of ethnic minorities to stay in cities (Han & Han, 2023), these reforms involve establishing ethnic minority labor rights supervisors in non-autonomous regions to supervise enterprises’ labor contract compliance and building an inter-regional social security transfer mechanism for ethnic minority migrant workers. Third, targeted policies aim to address heterogeneous effects by solving young ethnic minorities’ employment issues and narrowing the stable-unstable employment income gap in ethnic autonomous regions, including a measure for young ethnic minorities that collaborates with enterprises to create management trainee and apprenticeship positions and offers subsidies to participating enterprises, and another measure for ethnic autonomous regions that classifies ethnic handicraft production and cultural tourism as quasi-stable employment and provides tax exemptions and micro-entrepreneurship loans.

There are some shortcomings in this study. First, due to constraints on sample size, this study struggles to distinguish whether employment stability exerts heterogeneous effects on the earnings of different ethnic minority groups, and thus cannot further elaborate on the heterogeneous characteristics of various ethnic groups within the employment-income nexus. Second, limited by the data structure, this study has a relatively weak measurement of existing mechanisms of social status at work. We measured this construct using “being asked for favors,” which primarily captures the instrumental dimension of social capital. Future research could adopt more comprehensive measurement tools (e.g., multi-item scales including emotional support, proactive help, and resource types) or combine qualitative interviews to better capture the multi-dimensional nature of social status at work. Other potential mechanisms linking employment stability to income-such as differences in occupational skill accumulation and social security coverage-require further exploration and validation in future research. Third, this study employs cross-sectional data from CGSS, and the inherent nature of this data imposes key limitations on the study’s causal inference capacity. On one hand, its static nature prevents tracking the dynamic changes in the employment status of ethnic minority workers and fails to fully clarify the underlying driving factors behind their engagement in unstable employment. On the other hand, while this study has conducted robustness tests (e.g., Propensity Score Matching, Instrumental Variables) to mitigate endogeneity issues, it is necessary to explicitly acknowledge the potential reverse causality: for instance, higher-income workers may leverage their economic advantages to access stable employment through self-selection, rather than stable employment directly leading to increased income. This limitation means the study cannot draw definitive causal conclusions.

Against this backdrop, caution is warranted when generalizing the study’s findings. It is important to clarify that the results reflect robust associations between employment stability and the earnings of ethnic minority workers, rather than definitive causal relationships. Future research could adopt longitudinal tracking data and establish a dynamic analytical framework to further clarify the causal chain between the two variables, thereby enhancing the causal explanatory power of the conclusions.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Yingsheng Li, Pingqing Huan, Yandong Zhao, and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedbacks and comments.

ORCID iD

Hongwei Luo

Ethical Considerations

This study used data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) from 2012 to 2021, which is secondary data and does not contain any data which can identify individual. The data are publicly available (http://www.cnsda.org/index.php?r=projects/view&id=65635422). Since it does not involve animal research or human subjects research, ethical statements related to animal or human research are not applicable to this study.

Consent to Participate

This study used data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) from 2012 to 2021, which is secondary data and does not contain any data which can identify individual. The data are publicly available (http://www.cnsda.org/index.php?r=projects/view&id=65635422). This dataset has obtained the informed consent of the respondents.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Ceming Wang and Hongwei Luo; Funding acquisition, Yanbing Chen; Methodology, Yanbing Chen; Project administration, Hongwei Luo; Software, Yanbing Chen; Writing – original draft, Ceming Wang; Writing – review & editing, Hongwei Luo.

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Research Funds of Renmin University of China: 23XNH119.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Data Availability Statement

All data files are available from the CGSS database (http://www.cnsda.org/index.php?r=projects/view&id=65635422).Study on the Income Effect of Stable Employment among Ethnic Minorities in China and Its Mechanism: A Sociological Perspective.

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