Recent developments in China's labor market: Labor shortage, rising wages and their implications

Cui, Yuming; Meng, Jingjing; Lu, Changrong

doi:10.1111/rode.12391

Cited by 45 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…van Huizen (2014), Picchio et al (2017), and Cesarini et al (2017) have provided solid evidence by using large samples from affluent countries (i.e., Sweden and the Netherlands) that windfalls negatively affect labor supply. However, for reasons such as the lack of available data, researchers have focused less on the wealth effects in China, where household wealth has been increasing significantly (Xie and Jin, 2015) and the labor shortage is becoming a prominent problem (Cui et al, 2018). Our finding in China, a country of diligent individuals whose government does not provide an adequate social safety net, lends further support to this relationship between wealth and labor supply.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Losing the future: Household wealth from urban housing demolition and children's human capital in China

Feng¹,

Xiao²

2020

China Economic Review

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Some literature observes the negative but not very significant effect of household wealth growth on children's educational outcomes. This surprising finding is not easily reconciled with the traditional explanation that relaxed economic constraints caused by wealth growth can promote human capital accumulation. This paper proposes an alternative explanation for the causal relationship between wealth growth and human capital, which could be negative: individuals tend to reduce human capital investment following the decline in their labor supply induced by wealth growth, given that investing in human capital is mainly for employment competitiveness. This explanation is supported by evidence from the case of urban housing demolition in China, in which affected households could obtain substantial wealth growth by considerable demolition compensation thanks to the real estate boom in China. Specifically, using two nationally representative datasets, we find that Chinese households that have experienced demolition relatively have more wealth, less labor supply, lower propensity to accumulate children's human capital, and consequently, have children with lower educational achievement. These results suggest that China's economy may be losing its momentum because of the decline in labor supply and human capital accumulation brought about by the ongoing large-scale urban housing demolition.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Losing the future: Household wealth from urban housing demolition and children's human capital in China

Feng¹,

Xiao²

2020

China Economic Review

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“…In terms of intervention fidelity, changes often happen in “real-world” settings [70] and may have unintended consequences [71]. The reasons why all team leaders did not all take a role in leading exercise breaks in this study, for example, is not fully understood.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Move-It: A Cluster-Randomised Digital Worksite Exercise Intervention in China: Outcome and Process Evaluation

Blake

Lai

Coman

et al. 2019

IJERPH

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We evaluate the outcomes and processes of a video and web-based worksite exercise intervention for sedentary office workers in China, in a 2-arm cluster-randomised wait-list control trial (n = 282: intervention (INT) n = 196 and wait-list control (WLC) n = 86). Eligible clusters were two sites of a major organisation in China randomly allocated to each group (INT: Guangzhou; WLC: Beijing); eligible participants were site employees (n = 690). A theoretically informed digital workplace intervention (Move-It) involving a 10 min Qigong exercise session (video demonstration via website) was delivered twice a day at set break times during the working day for 12 consecutive weeks. Individual-level outcomes were assessed. Participants’ physical activity increased significantly from baseline to post-intervention similarly in both the intervention and the control group. There was a significantly smaller increase in weekday sitting hours in intervention than controls (by 4.66 h/week), and work performance increased only in the control group. Process evaluation (including six focus groups) was conducted using the RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation and maintenance) framework. The intervention had wide reach and was successfully marketed to all employees with good uptake. The participatory approach increased perceived organisational support and enhanced adoption. The intervention was implemented broadly as planned. Qigong worksite exercise intervention can be successfully delivered to sedentary office workers in China using video and web-based platforms. It may increase physical activity and does not adversely affect perceived work performance. The study highlights the complexity of conducting health promotion research in real-world organisational settings.

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“…Institutional change has emerged as another important factor affecting the labor share (Greenaway‐McGrevy & Bridgman, 2016; Berkowitz et al, 2018; Cui et al., 2018). As nearly 70% of low‐wage migrant workers are employed in the private sector in China (Rush, 2011), we include state‐owned enterprises dummy variable ( SOE ) in order to examine the potential differences in the labor share between state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) and private firms.…”

Section: Empirical Specifications and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Globalization and the labor share in China: Firm‐level evidence

Yang

Tsou

2020

The Manchester School

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This study examines the relationship between economic globalization (measured by exports and foreign direct investment) and the labor share in China's manufacturing sector. Using a large firm-level panel dataset for 2001-2007, we find that the labor shares are significantly higher in exporting firms and foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs), where the export status is more important than foreign ownership. The origins of the FDI and export types do matter. The aforementioned positive associations are primarily driven by ordinary exports and FIEs from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, whereas processing exports exhibit a negative association with the labor share. Our baseline results are about the between-firm variations within industries. When controlling for firm fixed effects, the labor share remains to be higher for a firm becoming an exporter or increasing export intensity, while the labor share is lower when a firm get a foreign investor or increase their exports. Finally, total factor productivity and innovation are negatively correlated with the labor share, suggesting that technological progress may play a role in the decline of the labor share in China.

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Recent developments in China's labor market: Labor shortage, rising wages and their implications

Cited by 45 publications

References 29 publications

Losing the future: Household wealth from urban housing demolition and children's human capital in China

Losing the future: Household wealth from urban housing demolition and children's human capital in China

Move-It: A Cluster-Randomised Digital Worksite Exercise Intervention in China: Outcome and Process Evaluation

Globalization and the labor share in China: Firm‐level evidence

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