Illustrated by the Case of Xi’an: Job Competition Between “Urban Loser” and “Rural Winner” in Second-Tier Cities of China

Abstract

Abstract-Accompanied by population saturation and social segregation in first-tier cities, together with living burden increasing in rural areas, today's new generations from both rural and urban areas tend to choose second-tier cities as their future settlements. In this paper, I have examined how one's career condition in Xi'an as a representative of China's secondtier city is affected by three social alternatives including Hukou system, social capital and human capital. The result reveals that compared with the other two social alternatives, in China's second-tier cities, Hukou type turns out to be the strongest explanative term on job targeting, but Hukou type is not helpful with one's career type because of a more developed local social network, however, education level compared to social network plays a more vital rule. Although those "rural winner" still get chances to win the job competition against those "urban losers", once the institutional revolution on Hukou system does not make adequate effects, there will not be significant improvement on the fair competition of labor market. Thus adequate attention on alternatives of Hukou system along with improvements on education equality will play crucial roles in the future development of job competition in China's second-tier cities.

Fragmented Social Exclusion and Rural-Urban Migration in China: A Case Study of Xi’an

“…With a total population of 8,552,900, Xi'an is the most populous city in both Shaanxi Province In line with Luan's (2013) analysis that Tier 2 cities are experiencing rapid growth, the total population of Xi'an has increased from 6.88 million in 2000 to 8.55 million in 2013 (Figure 4.5).…”

“…Conversely, the most popular destination for today's migrants (rural and urban alike) are "medium" and "large" Tier 2 cities (a discussion on China's city tiers is provided in Chapter 4). According to Luan (2013), who analyzed population growth in thirty-eight Chinese cities from 2000 to 2007, the proportion of population growth (including both urban residents and migrants) in Tier 2 cities increased more (32.1 percent) than larger Tier 1 (15.8 percent) and smaller Tier 3 cities (23.4 percent). This suggests that Tier 2 cities are gradually attracting a larger share of migrants, and subsequently playing a crucial role of carrying the population pressure stemming from both Tier 1 cities and rural areas in China (Luan 2013:370).…”

“…In descending order, cities are identified as: directly controlled municipalities, special-plan cities, provincial capitals, prefectural-level cities, and county-level cities. Given the complicated nature of the administration-based classification system, however, the most common method identifies cities according to one of three tiers, based on a combination of population size, economic strength, and administration status (Luan 2013). Even though the central government does not officially define or recognize the three-tier system, generally speaking, Tier 1 cities include China's largest cities and those with provincial-level administrative authority, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chongqing, and Guangzhou.…”

“…While Tier 1 cities garner much of the world's media attention, China's smaller Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities have also attracted considerable interest because of their growth performance and potential. For example, according to Luan (2013), the most rapidly growing urban cities in China are Tier 2 cities. From 2000 to 2007, the proportion of the population (including both urban residents and migrants) in Tier 2 cities increased more (32.1 percent) than in Tier 1 cities (15.8 percent) and Tier 3 cities (23.4 percent).…”

“…In this sense, it is not hukou status alone that prevents migrants from accessing formal employment or high-paying employment in the knowledge-based economy, but their lack of technical skills and credentials. Luan (2013) for example, finds that in Xi'an and other Tier 2 cities, migrants with higher levels of human capital are better able to compete in the local job market than those with lower levels of human capital, and even with less educated urban residents. In this sense, human capital is more important to accessing higher-level jobs than local hukou status (Luan 2013:373).…”