Managing Transition
Unemployment and Job Hunting in Urban China
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2846124 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ming Tsui (Millsaps College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 75 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 515 |
| Publication date | 2002-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Pacific Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0030-851X • E-ISSN: 1715-3379 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/4127344 |
| OpenAlex | W2317595913 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
rom the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, jobs in China were assigned by the state and employment in urban areas was secure and intended for life. Although underemployment was a problem and there were serious job shortages during and after the Cultural Revolution that started in 1966, once an individual was assigned a position, he or she could expect it to be stable and for life. During this period, when wages and salaries were dictated by the central government and kept universally low,jobs often carried cradleto-grave welfare benefits, including pension, housing and free medical care for both workers and their dependents. While wage differences were small among different occupations, benefits differed greatly among different types of work organizations.' Government agencies, public organizations and state firms provided their employees with all of the above-mentioned benefits; collective firms owned by local governments often offered pensions, but no housing and only partial medical coverage. Employment in government agencies and state firms was also more prestigious than that in collectivelyowned firms, even though workers in both firms enjoyedjob security. Because the government considered industrial production more important than consumer or personal services, service enterprises such as shops and restaurants were mostly collective, with low pay, few welfare benefits and low prestige.2 This socialist employment policy, coupled with a government prohibition against rural-to-urban migration, led to social stability and a near absence of such modern urban ills as high crime rates, slums, homelessness, drug abuse and prostitution. The negative consequences of such a system, on the other hand, were low productivity, a stagnant economy, a severe
Archaeology · Biology · Business · China · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Job hunting · Labour economics · Transition (genetics) · Unemployment · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,21 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2023 (17) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |