IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ijurrs/v34y2010i3p659-677.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Global Financial Crisis and Migrant Workers in China: ‘There is No Future as a Labourer; Returning to the Village has No Meaning’

Author

Listed:
  • KAM WING CHAN

Abstract

This essay examines the impact of the global financial crisis on rural migrant labour in China, with a focus on unemployment. It illustrates the interaction of global and China‐specific processes in the context of the worldwide recession. The essay first summarizes China's unique socio‐economic system and the mechanisms that have created a system of ‘rural migrant labour’ and ‘super‐cheapened’ it to help make China the ‘world's factory’. The main part of the essay examines the unemployment situation for migrants in late 2008 and the first half of 2009, and the dislocations and problems migrant labourers are facing. The China story is complex but interesting, not only for its rather complicated lexicon and statistics that often confuse outside observers, but also for its distinctive system of exploiting the rural population and internal migrant labour. This system makes the impact of the global crisis on migrant labourers, which are at the bottom of the global supply chain, all the more apparent. The last part of this essay analyses recent governmental fiscal‐stimulus policies and measures as well as their impact on rural migrant labour, making some broader observations and linking the crisis to China's model of development. Résumé Ce texte examine l’impact de la crise financière mondiale sur la main‐d’œuvre migrante rurale chinoise en s’intéressant notamment au chômage. Il illustre l’interaction des processus planétaires et nationaux dans le cadre de la récession mondiale. Une synthèse présente d’abord le régime socio‐économique unique du pays, ainsi que les mécanismes qui ont créé un système de ‘main‐d’œuvre migrante rurale’ tout en ‘hyper‐dépréciant’ ces travailleurs afin de faire de la Chine ‘l’usine du monde’. L’étude centrale porte sur le chômage des migrants entre la fin 2008 et le premier semestre 2009, ainsi que sur les bouleversements et problèmes que rencontrent les ouvriers migrants. L’histoire chinoise est complexe mais intéressante, non seulement à cause d’un vocabulaire et de statistiques compliqués qui déroutent souvent les observateurs extérieurs, mais aussi par son système spécifique d’exploitation de la population rurale et de la main‐d’œuvre migrante. Ce système renforce d’autant plus l’impact de la crise mondiale sur les ouvriers migrants, lesquels se trouvent tout en bas de la chaîne d’approvisionnement mondial. En revenant sur les récentes politiques et mesures d’incitation fiscale du gouvernement et sur leurs conséquences pour la main‐d’œuvre migrante rurale, la dernière partie élargit le champ des observations et relie la crise au modèle de développement chinois.

Suggested Citation

  • Kam Wing Chan, 2010. "The Global Financial Crisis and Migrant Workers in China: ‘There is No Future as a Labourer; Returning to the Village has No Meaning’," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 659-677, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:34:y:2010:i:3:p:659-677
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2427.2010.00987.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2010.00987.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2010.00987.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Irene Eng, 1997. "The Rise of Manufacturing Towns: Externally Driven Industrialization and Urban Development in the Pearl River Delta of China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 554-568, December.
    2. Fulong Wu, 2004. "Urban poverty and marginalization under market transition: the case of Chinese cities," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 401-423, June.
    3. Anne Haila, 2007. "The Market as the New Emperor," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 3-20, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fulong Wu, 2009. "Land Development, Inequality and Urban Villages in China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 885-889, December.
    2. Gwilym Owen & Yu Chen & Timothy Birabi & Gwilym Pryce & Hui Song & Bifeng Wang, 2023. "Residential segregation of migrants: Disentangling the intersectional and multiscale segregation of migrants in Shijiazhuang, China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(1), pages 166-182, January.
    3. Fulong Wu, 2007. "The Poverty of Transition: From Industrial District to Poor Neighbourhood in the City of Nanjing, China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(13), pages 2673-2694, December.
    4. Fulong Wu, 2001. "Housing Provision under Globalisation: A Case Study of Shanghai," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 33(10), pages 1741-1764, October.
    5. GOH, Chor-ching & LUO, Xubei & ZHU, Nong, 2009. "Income growth, inequality and poverty reduction: A case study of eight provinces in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 485-496, September.
    6. Chris Hamnett, 2011. "Urban Social Polarization," Chapters, in: Ben Derudder & Michael Hoyler & Peter J. Taylor & Frank Witlox (ed.), International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities, chapter 32, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Yiyan Chen & Zhaoyun Tang, 2023. "A Study of Multidimensional and Persistent Poverty among Migrant Workers: Evidence from China’s CFPS 2014–2020," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-15, May.
    8. Basile Ndjio, 2017. "Sex and the transnational city: Chinese sex workers in the West African city of Douala," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(4), pages 999-1015, March.
    9. F Wu, 1999. "The ‘Game’ of Landed-Property Production and Capital Circulation in China's Transitional Economy, with Reference to Shanghai," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 31(10), pages 1757-1771, October.
    10. Zhao, Pengjun & Lu, Bin, 2010. "Exploring job accessibility in the transformation context: an institutionalist approach and its application in Beijing," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 393-401.
    11. Yang, Jidong & Liu, Cheng & Liu, Kai, 2023. "Land marketization and industrial restructuring in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    12. Shenjing He & Fulong Wu & Chris Webster & Yuting Liu, 2010. "Poverty Concentration and Determinants in China's Urban Low‐income Neighbourhoods and Social Groups," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 328-349, June.
    13. Ya Ping Wang & Yanglin Wang & Jiansheng Wu, 2009. "Urbanization and Informal Development in China: Urban Villages in Shenzhen," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 957-973, December.
    14. Fei Yan, 2018. "Urban poverty, economic restructuring and poverty reduction policy in urban China: Evidence from Shanghai, 1978–2008," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(4), pages 465-481, July.
    15. Appleton, Simon & Song, Lina & Xia, Qingjie, 2010. "Growing out of Poverty: Trends and Patterns of Urban Poverty in China 1988-2002," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 665-678, May.
    16. Jiang Xu & Anthony Yeh & Fulong Wu, 2009. "Land Commodification: New Land Development and Politics in China since the Late 1990s," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 890-913, December.
    17. Wan, Zhengyue & Titheridge, Helena, 2024. "Socially sustainable transport in the context of different-sized cities in China:Conceptualisation and operationalisation of equity," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    18. Anne Haila, 2009. "Chinese Alternatives," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 572-575, June.
    19. Qing Yang & Chaozheng Zhang, 2023. "How Does the Renewal of Urban Villages Affect the Resettled Villagers’ Subjective Well-Being? A Case Study in Wuhan, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-22, August.
    20. Yuan, Feng & Wei, Yehua Dennis & Xiao, Weiye, 2019. "Land marketization, fiscal decentralization, and the dynamics of urban land prices in transitional China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:34:y:2010:i:3:p:659-677. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0309-1317 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.