Private jobs in the cities, collective employment in the countryside: an analysis of labour market dynamics in China since 1990

Andrew Atherton^aZheng Li^b* Zhongmin WucWeili teng^c

^a Lancaster University, UK

^bSchool of Economics, Jilin University, China

^cNottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Abstract：We analyse employment in China between 1990 and 2011, using national statistics. Over that period, the private sector has become an increasingly important employer in China’s cities. In contrast, collective enterprises were an important source of rural jobs in the 1980s and 1990s and have become an increasingly important employer since then. We find a strong positive relationship between private sector employment and GDP per capita, and a negative relationship between employment in the private sector and in the state and collective sectors. Our findings indicate pergence in sources of employment in cities and the countryside, and a growing spatial pide between areas that rely on state-owned enterprises for employment, and places where the private sector is an increasingly important employer.

Key words: Chinaprivate enterprisecollective enterpriseemployment urban rural

* Corresponding author, Professor Zheng LI, Vice Dean of Economics School, Jilin University, China, Email: lzheng@jlu.edu.cn