Professor, Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Search for more papers by this author

Scott Rozelle,

Scott Rozelle

[email protected]

Professor, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, USA

Search for more papers by this author

Xiaobing Wang,

Xiaobing Wang

[email protected]

Associate Professor, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, China

Search for more papers by this author

Linghui Han,

Linghui Han

[email protected]

Researcher, Research Institute of Fiscal Science, Ministry of Finance and the National Institute for Fiscal Studies, Tsinghua University, China

Search for more papers by this author

Jikun Huang,

Corresponding Author

Jikun Huang

[email protected]

Professor, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, China

Professor, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, China.Search for more papers by this author

Linxiu Zhang,

Linxiu Zhang

[email protected]

Professor, Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Search for more papers by this author

Scott Rozelle,

Scott Rozelle

[email protected]

Professor, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, USA

Search for more papers by this author

First published: 17 May 2016

https://doi.org/10.1111/cwe.12156

Citations: 23

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 71373255 and 71333013), the Institute for Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2012RC102; 2012ZD208;KSZD-EW-Z-021-1; Y02015004).

Share a link

Email
Wechat
Bluesky

Abstract

The goal of the present paper is to examine how the expansion of the economy from 2000 has affected rural off-farm labor market participation. Specifically, we seek to determine whether off-farm labor increased after 2000, what forms of employment are driving trends in off-farm labor and whether gender differences can be observed in off-farm employment trends. Using a nationally representative dataset that consist of two waves of surveys conducted in 2000 and 2008 in six provinces, this paper finds that off-farm labor market participation continued to rise steadily in the early 2000s. However, there is a clear difference in the trends associated with occupational choice before and after 2000. In addition, we find that rural off-farm employment trends are different for men and women. Our analysis also shows that the rise of wage-earning employment corresponds with an increasing unskilled wage for both men and women.

References

Cai, F., A. Park and Y. H. Zhao, 2008, “The Chinese labor market in the reform era,” in L. Brandt and T. Rawski, eds, China's Economic Transition: Origins, Mechanisms, and Consequences, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 167–214.
Google Scholar
Cai, F. and M. Y. Wang, 2010, “Growth and structural changes in employment in transition China,” Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 71–81.
Google Scholar
Csanádi, M., Z. Nie, S. Li, 2015, “Crisis, stimulus package and migration in China,” China & World Economy, Vol. 23, No. 5, pp. 27–43.
Google Scholar
de Brauw, A., J. K. Huang, S. Rozelle, L. X. Zhang and Y. G. Zhang, 2002, “The evolution of China's rural labor markets during the reforms,” Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 329–53.
Google Scholar
Du, Y. and A. Park, 2006, “Blunting razor's edge: Regional economic development in China since the reform,” China Journal of Economics, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 149–59.
Google Scholar
Fairlie, R. and C. M. Woodruff, 2010, “Mexican-American entrepreneurship,” The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 137–39.
Google Scholar
Fleisher, B. M., Y. F. Hu, H. Z. Li and S. Kim, 2011, “Economic transition, higher education and worker productivity in China,” Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 94, No. 1, pp. 86–94.
Google Scholar
Fleisher, B. M. and X. J. Wang, 2005, “Returns to schooling in China under planning and reform,” Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 265–77.
Google Scholar
Giles, J., A. Park, F. Cai and Y. Du, 2012, “Weathering a storm: Survey-based perspectives on employment in China in the aftermath of the global financial crisis,” Policy Research Working Paper Series, Paper No. 5984, The World Bank, Washington, DC.
Google Scholar
Hamilton, B. H., 2000, “Does entrepreneurship pay? An empirical analysis of the return to self-employment,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 108, No. 3, pp. 604–31.
Google Scholar
Heckman, J., 1979, “Sample selection bias as a specification error,” Econometrica, Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 153–61.
Google Scholar
Huffman, W. E., 1991, “Agricultural households model: Survey and critique,” in M. C. Hallberg, J. L. Findeis and D. A. Lass, eds, Multiple Job Holding Among Farm Families, Ames: Iowa State University Press.
Google Scholar
Kuznets, S., 1941, National Income, 1919–1938, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.
Google Scholar
Lin, J. Y. F., G. W. Wang and Y. H. Zhao, 2004, “Regional inequality and labor migration in China,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 587–604.
Google Scholar
Luc, C., L. Pan and S. G. Wang, 2010, “Drivers of poverty reduction in lagging regions: Evidence from rural Western China,” Working Paper No. 2010/35, World Institute for Development Economic Research, Helsinki, Finland.
Google Scholar
Lucas, R. E., 1978, “On the size distribution of business firms,” Bell Journal of Economics, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 508–23.
Google Scholar
NBSC (National Bureau of Statistics of China), various issues, China Statistical Yearbook, Beijing: China Statistics Press (in Chinese).
Google Scholar
Pant, B. D. and D. Blades, 2007, “ Measurement of services sector statistics in the People's Republic of China: How can they be improved?,” Asian Development Bank, Economics and Research Department, Occasional Statistical Paper Series No. 2, November, Manila.
Google Scholar
Park, A. and D. W. Wang, 2010, “ Migration and urban poverty and inequality in China,” Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Discussion Paper No. 4877, Bonn, Germany.
Google Scholar
Riskin, C., R. W. Zhao and S. Li, 2001, China's Retreat from Equality: Income Distribution and Economic Transition, New York: M. E. Sharpe.
Google Scholar
Rozelle, S., G. Li, M. G. Shen, A. Hughart and J. Giles, 1999, “Leaving China's farms: Survey results of new paths and remaining hurdles to rural migration,” China Quarterly, Vol. 158 (June), pp. 367–93.
Google Scholar
Rozelle, S., X. Y. Dong, L. X. Zhang and A. Mason, 2002, “Gender wage gaps in post-reform rural China,” Pacific Economic Review, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 157–79.
Google Scholar
Tokman, V. E., 1992, Beyond Regulation: The Informal Economy in Latin America, Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner Publishers.
Google Scholar
United Nations, 2008, The World Urbanisation Prospects: The 2007 Revision, New York: Population Division.
Google Scholar
Wang, X. B., J. K. Huang, L. X. Zhang and S. Rozelle, 2011, “The rise of migration and the fall of self employment in rural China's labor market,” China Economic Review, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 573–84.
Google Scholar
Woodruff, C., 2006, “ Self-employment: Engine of growth or self-help safety net?,” Paper presented at the World Bank Conference of Rethinking the Role of Jobs for Shared Growth, World Bank, Washington DC, USA, June 2006.
Google Scholar
Zhang, H. L. and S. F. Song, 2003, “Rural–urban migration and urbanization in China: Evidence from time-series and cross-section analyses,” China Economic Review, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 386–400.
Google Scholar
Zhang, J., L. X. Zhang, S. Rozelle and B. Steve, 2006, “Self-employment with Chinese-characteristics: The forgotten engine of rural China's growth,” Contemporary Economic Policy, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 446–58.
Google Scholar
Zhang, L. X., A. de Brauw and S. Rozelle, 2004, “China's rural labor market development and its gender implications,” China Economic Review, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 230–47.
Google Scholar
Zhao, Y. H., 1999, “Leaving the countryside: rural to urban migration decisions in China,” American Economic Review, Vol. 89, No. 2, pp. 281–86.
Google Scholar