IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp5880.html

Evolution of the Industrial Wage Structure in China Since 1980

Author

Listed:
  • Kwon, Ohyun

    (Drexel University)

  • Fleisher, Belton M.

    (Ohio State University)

  • Quheng, Deng

    (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

Abstract

Industry mean wages in China have exhibited sharply increased dispersion since the early 1990s. The upward trend in differences of average wages among major industry groups parallels increases in wage and income inequality not only between rural and urban sectors but within the urban economy as well. Research on the trend has focused on (1) how market forces have led to a better match between worker pay and worker skills; on (2a) how the growing share of employment in the private sector has "caused" growing wage inequality; and (2b) how residual government control in a few industrial sectors has contributed to wage inequality due monopoly rent sharing. We show that the industrial wage dispersion in China has evolved to match long-recognized international patterns of industrial wage dispersion and that an increasing proportion of industrial wage dispersion can be explained as returns to observed worker characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Kwon, Ohyun & Fleisher, Belton M. & Quheng, Deng, 2011. "Evolution of the Industrial Wage Structure in China Since 1980," IZA Discussion Papers 5880, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5880
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp5880.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Whalley & Chunbing Xing, 2010. "The Regional Distribution of Skill Premia in Urban China," NBER Working Papers 16575, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Juan Yang & Sylvie Démurger & Shi Li, 2010. "Earnings Differentials between the Public and the Private Sectors in China : Explaining Changing Trends for Urban Locals in the 2000s," Working Papers 1032, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    3. Krueger, Alan B & Summers, Lawrence H, 1988. "Efficiency Wages and the Inter-industry Wage Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 259-293, March.
    4. repec:bla:etrans:v:10:y:2002-11:i:3:p:659-688 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Zhao Chen & Ming Lu & Guanghua Wan, 2010. "Inter-Industry Wage Differentials: An Increasingly Important Contributor to Urban China Income Inequality," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd09-130, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    6. Alan B. Krueger & Lawrence H. Summers, 1986. "Reflections on the Inter-Industry Wage Structure," NBER Working Papers 1968, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Melvin W. Reder, 1962. "Wage Differentials: Theory and Measurement," NBER Chapters, in: Aspects of Labor Economics, pages 257-317, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Veronique Genre & Karsten Kohn & Daphne Momferatou, 2011. "Understanding inter-industry wage structures in the euro area," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(11), pages 1299-1313.
    9. Samuel P.S. Ho & Xiao–Yuan Dong & Paul Bowles & Fiona MacPhail, 2002. "Privatization and enterprise wage structures during transition: Evidence from rural industry in china," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 10(3), pages 659-688, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ohyun Kwon & Simon Chang & Belton M. Fleisher, 2015. "Evolution of the Interindustry Wage Structure in China Since the 1980s," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 17-44, February.
    2. da Silveira, Jaylson Jair & Lima, Gilberto Tadeu, 2021. "Wage inequality as a source of endogenous macroeconomic fluctuations," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 35-52.
    3. Pinelopi K. Goldberg & Nina Pavcnik, 2001. "Trade Protection and Wages: Evidence from the Colombian Trade Reforms," NBER Working Papers 8575, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Veronique Genre & Karsten Kohn & Daphne Momferatou, 2011. "Understanding inter-industry wage structures in the euro area," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(11), pages 1299-1313.
    5. H. Naci Mocan & Deborah Viola, 1997. "The Determinants of Child Care Workers' Wages and Compensation: Sectoral Differences, Human Capital, Race, Insiders and Outsiders," NBER Working Papers 6328, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Ross, Stephen L. & Zenou, Yves, 2008. "Are shirking and leisure substitutable? An empirical test of efficiency wages based on urban economic theory," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 498-517, September.
    7. Montserrat Vilalta-Bufi, 2007. "Labor mobility and Inter-industry Wage Variation," DEGIT Conference Papers c012_024, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    8. Attanasio, Orazio & Goldberg, Pinelopi K. & Pavcnik, Nina, 2004. "Trade reforms and wage inequality in Colombia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 331-366, August.
    9. Steven Ross & Yves Zenou, 2003. "Shirking, Commuting and Labor Market Outcomes," Working papers 2003-41, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    10. George J. Borjas & Valerie A. Ramey, 2000. "Market Responses to Interindustry Wage Differentials," NBER Working Papers 7799, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Robert Plasman & François Rycx & Ilan Tojerow, 2006. "Industry wage differentials, unobserved ability, and rent-sharing: evidence from matched employer-employee, 1992-2005," DULBEA Working Papers 06-14.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    12. García-Pozo, Dr. Alejandro & Lasso-Dela-Vega, Elena & González-Guerrero, Dr. Eva, 2024. "Why are workers in the Spanish energy industry more likely to earn higher wages than other Spanish workers?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 609-616.
    13. Ellingsen, Tore & Rosen, Åsa, 1994. "Skill or Luck? Search Frictions and Wage Differentials," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 1, Stockholm School of Economics.
    14. Ioana Marinescu & Ronald Wolthoff, 2020. "Opening the Black Box of the Matching Function: The Power of Words," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(2), pages 535-568.
    15. Antoni, Manfred & Janser, Markus & Lehmer, Florian, 2015. "The hidden winners of renewable energy promotion: Insights into sector-specific wage differentials," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 595-613.
    16. Hans-Jurgen Engelbrecht, 1997. "The Impact of International Trade on Real Wages in U.S. Manufacturing, 1985-1989," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 69-86.
    17. Brenda Gannon & Brian Nolan, 2004. "Inter-Industry Wage Differentials in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 35(2), pages 157-182.
    18. Kam-Ki Tang & Yi-Ping Tseng, 2004. "Industry-specific human capital, knowledge labour, and industry wage structure in Taiwan," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(2), pages 155-164.
    19. Mehta, Aashish & Sun, Wei, 2013. "Does Industry Affiliation Influence Wages? Evidence from Indonesia and the Asian Financial Crisis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 47-61.
    20. Gruetter, Max & Lalive, Rafael, 2009. "The importance of firms in wage determination," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 149-160, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution
    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5880. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.