A Comparison of Reform-Era Labor Force Participation Rates of China’s Ethnic Minorities and Han Majority
Abstract
Previous research suggests that minorities are not faring well in China’s transition—both income and occupational attainment gaps are widening. We are particularly interested in whether the differences in majority and minority economic outcomes are the result of ethnicity per se, or whether they are artifacts of local economic conditions. In this paper, we employ data from the three most recent population censuses of China to explore differences in the labor force participation rates of a number of China’s important ethnic groups. We estimate urban labor force participation rates using probit regressions controlling for sex, marital status, educational attainment, age, ethnicity, and location. We also account for the geographic concentration of particular ethnic minorities and compare the participation rates of different ethnic groups within geographic regions that represent the areas of principal residence for each minority. We concentrate on seven important minority groups: Hui, Koreans, Manchu, Mongolians, Uygurs, Yi and Zhuang. We find that location has limited explanatory power in explaining differences in the probability of labor force participation between these important Chinese ethnic minorities and the majority Han.Download Info
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Paper provided by William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan in its series William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series with number wp795.Length: pages
Date of creation: 01 Nov 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wdi:papers:2005-795
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Keywords: China; ethnic minorities; labor force participation; economic reform; population censuses;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
- J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
- J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
- O1 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
- O5 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies
- P2 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Systems and Transition Economies
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2006-06-10 (All new papers)
- NEP-CNA-2006-06-10 (China)
- NEP-DEV-2006-06-10 (Development)
- NEP-SEA-2006-06-10 (South East Asia)
- NEP-TRA-2006-06-10 (Transition Economics)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Chen, Jian & Fleisher, Belton M., 1996. "Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 141-164, April.
- Fleisher, Belton M. & Chen, Jian, 1997. "The Coast-Noncoast Income Gap, Productivity, and Regional Economic Policy in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 220-236, October.
- Gustafsson, Bjorn & Shi, Li, 2003. "The Ethnic Minority-Majority Income Gap in Rural China during Transition," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(4), pages 805-22, July.
- Margaret Maurer-Fazio & James Hughes, 2002.
"The Effects of Market Liberalization on the Relative Earnings of Chinese Women,"
William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series
460, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
- Maurer-Fazio, Margaret & Hughes, James, 2002. "The Effects of Market Liberalization on the Relative Earnings of Chinese Women," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 709-731, December.
- Lee, Jongchul, 2000. "Changes in the source of China's regional inequality," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 232-245.
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