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State and Non-state Earnings Differentials over Time in China’s Urban Labor Market: Evidence from the Urban Household Survey (1994–2007)

Author

Listed:
  • Kritkorn Nawakitphaitoon

    (Renmin University of China)

  • Xuan Chen

    (Renmin University of China)

  • Yuhao Ge

    (Renmin University of China)

Abstract

This paper examines the over-time changes in state and non-state earnings differentials in China’s urban labor market between the mid-1990s—the period radical SOE reform--and the mid-2000s—the post-reform period when the effects of the reform became more fully manifested. Using the Urban Household Survey (UHS) comparing two pooled cross-sectional samples from 1994 to 1996 and 2005 to 2007, the findings show that the earnings differentials in favor of the non-state sector workers in the mid-1990s were reversed so that the state sector workers, on average, earned much higher than their counterparts in the non-state sector in the mid-2000s after the sectoral reform. In addition, changes in returns to characteristics, particularly the intercept coefficients, rather than changes in the characteristics, were the major sources to explain the reversal in earnings differentials between state and non-state sector workers at this period.

Suggested Citation

  • Kritkorn Nawakitphaitoon & Xuan Chen & Yuhao Ge, 2016. "State and Non-state Earnings Differentials over Time in China’s Urban Labor Market: Evidence from the Urban Household Survey (1994–2007)," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 287-316, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jlabre:v:37:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s12122-016-9227-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s12122-016-9227-2
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Earnings differentials; State sectoral reform; Decomposition; China’s urban labor market;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

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