Earnings Differentials between the Public and the Private Sectors in China: Explaining Changing Trends for Urban Locals in the 2000s

Abstract

This paper analyzes the changes in public-private sector earnings differentials for local residents in urban China between 2002 and 2007. We find that earnings gaps across ownership have been reducing during this period and that the convergence trend has been in favor of the private and semi-public sectors as opposed to the public sector. This is in sharp contrast to what occurred at the turn of the century, when employees of public administration and enterprises were found to enjoy a very much privileged situation. On the one hand, differences in endowments are found to play a growing role in explaining earnings differentials. On the other hand, although starting to become less an issue, segmentation across ownership remains important, especially for high-wage earners.

Ownership restructuring and wage inequality in urban China

“…Chen, Démurger and Fournier (2005) also find that FIEs and collective enterprises offered higher returns to education than state-owned enterprises. Similar findings also are reported by Meng (2000), Xing (2008), and Yang, Démurger and Li (2010). 2 This article investigates how ownership restructuring has contributed to China's rising urban wage inequality.…”

Stabilization and structuralization: transformations of China's labor market from the perspective of new institutionalism (2006–2017)

“…It is generally believed that the public and private sectors also constitute a dual structure. Compared with public-sector employment, private-sector employment is different in terms of working conditions, work remuneration, social security, work mobility, and the opportunity distribution mechanism; that public-private segmentation structure has continued to present (Liu 2006;Wang 2010;Yang et al 2011;Li et al 2016). With the transformation of the national labor policy, what are the differences between the stabilization and structuralization trends in the different sectors?…”

Privatización y desigualdad salarial en la China urbana

“…Chen, Démurger y Fournier (2005) también encuentran que las empresas de capital extranjero y las colectivas ofrecían mejores retornos a la educación que las estatales. Estos resultados son similares a los de Meng (2000), Xing (2008), y Yang, Démur-ger y Li (2010) …”