Proliferation of educational credentials, changing economic returns, and rising occupational education requirements: Evidence in urban China from 2003 to 2008

Hu, Anning

doi:10.1177/0268580913489323

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…After completing secondary education, students have the choice of continuing their education at a four-year university or a three-year vocational college [18]. While a number of studies have focused on the effect of higher (vocational) education on Chinese youth [19,20], this study aimed to fill the gap by exploring the upper-secondary sector, which includes the vocational route (e.g., specialised schools, skilled-worker schools, and vocational secondary schools) and the general/academic route (e.g., general high schools).…”

Section: The Chinese Upper-secondary Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Vocational Education Matter in Rural China? A Comparison of the Effects of Upper-Secondary Vocational and Academic Education: Evidence from CLDS Survey

Geng

Zhang

2023

Education Sciences

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The Chinese government has emphasised the role of vocational education and training (VET) in promoting the rural economy. Since 2018, the government has invested heavily in setting up secondary vocational schools, training centres, specialised programmes, and courses in rural areas. This paper aimed to explore whether VET at the upper-secondary level leads to better labour market outcomes than academic education in Chinese rural areas. We also aimed to quantitively investigate the social prestige of vocational and academic education among rural residents by comparing the subjective social status level of those who graduated from upper-secondary vocational schools and general academic schools. We drew data from the China Labour-force Dynamic Survey (CLDS). A binary logit model and multinomial logit model were used in this research. The results showed that rural upper-secondary vocational graduates had an advantage over general graduates in terms of their income and employment stability. However, VET led to lower subjective social status when compared with general education. This study demonstrated that although promoting VET in rural areas could potentially benefit rural residents financially, cultural change is needed to ensure the elevation of the standing of vocational education and promote the worthiness, effectiveness, and capabilities that vocational graduates possess.

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Section: The Chinese Upper-secondary Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Vocational Education Matter in Rural China? A Comparison of the Effects of Upper-Secondary Vocational and Academic Education: Evidence from CLDS Survey

Geng

Zhang

2023

Education Sciences

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“…In recent years, the expansion of higher education in China has led to the expansion of academic qualifications, which has increased the supply of high-quality labor and directly increased the requirements of jobs for academic qualifications. From 2003 to 2008, the number of jobs requiring a university degree or above in China has increased sharply, which makes individuals with lower education have to accept lower wages and even withdraw from the labor market ( Hu, 2013 ). It can be seen that the increase in income brought by the improvement of individual education will reduce their economic dependence on their spouse, and the decrease in their economic dependence on their spouse will reduce their housework time.…”

Section: Literature Review and Research Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Will narrowing the educational gap between husband and wife alleviate housework inequality: Evidence from China

Peng

Lin²

2022

Front. Psychol.

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In the past 20 years, China’s educational advantage has undergone a gender reversal. The average educational level of women is higher than that of men. However, the gender difference in housework is gradually expanding, and women are still the main undertakers of housework. Based on the China Family Panel Studies, this study explores the impact of the educational gap between husband and wife on the inequality of housework division and its mechanism. OLS regression model was used to estimate the impact of marital education gap on household inequality. It is concluded that the higher the education level of the husband is than that of the wife, the greater the gender inequality in housework. This conclusion is significant at the level of 0.01. On this basis, the instrumental variable method was used to overcome the endogenous problems and a more accurate conclusion was reached. Every unit of increase in the education gap between husband and wife would increase the degree of household inequality by 0.281 percentage points. Quantile regression provides strong evidence for the results. When the gender time ratio of housework is in the range of 0.8–0.95, the education gap will have an impact on the gender division of housework. After the robustness test and heterogeneity analysis of the model, an intermediary variable was established to discuss the mechanism of the model. The income disparity and the working time gap were proved to be intermediary variables. This study believes that in modern society, the education gap between husband and wife will affect the inequality of housework division by changing the relative income and relative working time of husband and wife. Although the educational advantages of women in the whole society have not changed their role in the division of housework. However, with the narrowing of the educational gap between husband and wife, the degree of inequality in the division of housework has been alleviated, indicating that the improvement of women’s education level has alleviated the inequality in the division of housework to a certain extent.

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“…In the Chinese Reform Era, educational credentials are used as a tool to distinguish between job applicants in an increasingly competitive market (Hansen and Woronov 2013). Hu's (2013) research on the Chinese labour market between 2003 and 2008 demonstrated a significant increase in the number of jobs requiring post-secondary credentials in that period, as well as a significant decline in the economic returns for a post-secondary credential. The comparative advantages of vocational college graduates in the labour market are not apparent, and they are easily overtaken by university graduates (Ding 2004;Zhang 2008).…”

Section: Neoliberalism Human Capital and The Quest For Better Credent...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stepping into the labour market from the VET sector in China: student perceptions and experiences

Geng

2021

Studies in Continuing Education

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The Chinese Government is clear that investment is needed to upskill the workforce, yet VET students, who will play a key role in the upskilling, continue to be positioned at the bottom of the educational hierarchy and suffer considerable societal prejudice. This paper presents new findings on Chinese VET students' perceptions of the job market and career possibilities in the context of the negatively stereotyped VET system. The findings are analysed through the lens of Gramsci's hegemonic power and with reference to Bauman's individualisation. A lack of confidence was found among the VET students who were about to enter the labour market; moreover, they exhibited a passive acceptance of whatever jobs were available, rather than mindfully choosing. Analysis of the findings suggests that the students gave their active consent to the hegemonic human capital form of thinking and accepted their perceived "inadequacy" and unfavourable places in the division of labour. They were under the impression that they needed to take responsibility for the choices they made as '[our] chances all come down to us. The study concludes that this individualising force could sustain hegemonic control as well as provide the "flexible workers" needed by an economy influenced by neoliberalism.

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Proliferation of educational credentials, changing economic returns, and rising occupational education requirements: Evidence in urban China from 2003 to 2008

Abstract: A remarkable expansion of secondary and tertiary education has been witnessed in mainland China in the past decades, resulting in changing returns to educational credentials. Using data from the

Cited by 9 publications

References 46 publications

Does Vocational Education Matter in Rural China? A Comparison of the Effects of Upper-Secondary Vocational and Academic Education: Evidence from CLDS Survey

Does Vocational Education Matter in Rural China? A Comparison of the Effects of Upper-Secondary Vocational and Academic Education: Evidence from CLDS Survey

Will narrowing the educational gap between husband and wife alleviate housework inequality: Evidence from China

Stepping into the labour market from the VET sector in China: student perceptions and experiences

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