A Study On Relations Between Human Capital And Ethnic Minorities' Employability

The progress of the ethnic regions is an integral part of the construction of a harmonious socialist society in China. Currently, the development of China's ethnic regions lags behind, which has much to do with historical, social and cultural factors. Despite the fact that great achievements have been made over the past 30 years since the reform and opening-up drive, the gap between the western ethnic regions and the eastern coastal areas has been enlarged, in the course of which the latter have enjoyed accelerated development. Such an imbalance will inevitably affect the development of China as a whole and possibly even national security. How to realize better and faster development in ethnic minority regions has emerged as a research topic of great practical and theoretical significances. Development can be boiled down to that of the whole human society and individuals, therefore the core of the development research is the enhancement and self-realization of individuals, or in the case of the employment restructuring of ethnic minorities, human capital of ethnic minority groups, or the improvement of employment level through exploiting local knowledge under the new historical conditions. In the context of globalization, how to treat ethnic cultures and their practical significance and how to realize the value of ethnic minority population have become new academic topics in the field of ethnic economic theories that focus on social development.Economic growth is a fundamental part of human development though not all of it. As an integral part of social reality, anyone concerned with social development research has to play emphasis on economic expansion. It may be wrong to regard economic boost as development, but it is also unimaginable to live without economic prosperity. We must place a high value on the great significance of economic growth in the research of development. Nonetheless, the relationship between economy, society and culture also needs to be recognized, only by understanding of which can the purpose and significance of economic growth be realized.In reality, economic elements are closely related to non-economic ones, or in other words, economy is immersed in the sea of culture. Any economic growth is particular to ethnic groups in a particular area of the particular society, which suggests to people that while thinking of economic development, social and ethnic growth as well as the relation between economy and culture be placed a great value on. In terms of economic anthropology, region and ethnicity are two major elements in all economic activities. Objectively there are material targets; and subjectively, there are cultural implications. Differences in resources and environment and socio-culture between different regions lead to different economic activities as well as different ways and routes in economic growth. Diversity of ethnic cultures means varied purposes, ways and results of development. It is impractical to shackle all ethnic groups and nations into the same theory and practice of development. The presence of diverse ethnic cultures forms another realistic condition that we have to consider in addition to production elements, industrial structure and technological advances and systems. Ethnic areas, employability of ethnic individuals and different human capital are all significant factors. If we admit that the cultural aspect of economic activity is essential, and development cannot be realized without the people in a special culture and the enhancement of the employability of ethnic population. How the diverse ethnic cultures provide resources for the enhanced labor quality among the production elements, and how the local knowledge and diverse ethnic human capital play a positive role in the adjustment of industrial structure, technological advance and the formation of new institutions have become core questions in this research.Although the issue of employment and labor division exists in traditional societies, it is not until the advent of highly advanced labor divisions and industrialized production that employment becomes a social problem. While "the son takes the job of the father's" in the traditional societies, modern people go beyond the confine of their father's job in a distant place. Under modern social conditions, theoretically people can choose any job, though realistically the job people choose may have a close relationship with their life experience and education background and cultural tradition. As a result, a knowledge of modern society is a prerequisite for understanding the problem of employment.In the modernization process and the construction of a market economy system, the nature and characteristics of modern society lead to the differences in the job selection. The affinity of economy and culture determines that human capital and employability contain diverse cultural elements, thus highlighting the dialectical relation between the particularity of ethnic minority cultures and local knowledge and the universality of market economy. In terms of the close relationship and difference between human capital and employability, the research aimed at enhancing the employability of ethnic minority group members has to focus on the universality, specialty and heterogeneity of human capital, and the specific implications and forms of characteristics of human capital, and the assessment of values and effectiveness and the process of adaptation and other problems that are inevitably involved in enhancing the employability of ethnic minority groups, and point up the differences between the assessment standards of the mainstream society and minority ethnic groups.Universality of human capital refers to the universal knowledge and skills that must be acquired before people can engage in the jobs in modern economic activities. Although jobs have varied characteristics due to their different nature and requirements, basic knowledge of natural science, literacy and ordinary calculations and interpersonal communications and so on are necessary for doing any job. Members of any ethnic group have to acquire necessary knowledge and skills for entering into a job or more. Professional human capital refers to knowledge and skills closely related to a profession before entering into it. Increasingly sophisticated social division of labor and production efficiency makes it impossible for an individual to do all jobs. The "all-rounder" and "a good hand in and out of the family" often seen in the past no longer exist. Besides the general human capital, one has to spend time and money in receiving special education and skills training to get a job. Theoretically, any job that requires special human capital is open to all ethnic groups. So long as an individual acquires professional knowledge and skills in addition to general human capital, one can get a job in high-paying departments, which is guaranteed by the ethnic policies in China such as equality, unity, mutual help and harmony. A nation-state is very rare in today's world. Most of the countries, including China, are made of multiple ethnic groups. This means that culture may differ from country to country and that due to the presence of multiple ethnic groups, the culture in a country is often made of a predominant ethnic culture and many minority ethnic cultures. The diversified Chinese culture is the result of the assimilation of 56 ethnic sub-cultures. Due to historical reasons, different ethnic groups may be distinct from each other in terms of culture, or in reality in terms of various knowledge and skills related to production and living, which are different from the general and professional human capital in modern society. Such differences are not based on the demands of social division of labor, but based on cultural differences. In other words, heterogeneous human capital needs to go through transformation before it can be recognized in modern economic activities and before its value can be realized. Thus, successful transformation can help heterogeneous human capital attain professionalness in modern society while failure in transformation may lead to the loss of opportunities.Rapid development of modern society has brought forth both economic and cultural integration, highlighted and strengthened cultural differences in unprecedentedly frequent economic and cultural exchanges between ethnic groups and regions. The tension thus formed between integration and diversification facilitates to a degree cultural diversity in human societies, so that all aspects of society, including economy, are thriving. In such context the hitherto ignored heterogeneity of human capital now emerges. The pursuit of efficiency, and increasingly sophisticated social division of labor, and continuous adjustment of industrial structure and the social integration process for better development have brought opportunities for heterogeneous human capital to realize its value. The innovativeness of products and services that keep emerging in modern production, and sophisticatedness and diversity of industrial structure in the whole society cannot exist without cultural creativity as the propelling power. The existence of diversified cultures forms an important source of creativity. It is obvious in the theoretical research of human capital that despite the multiple channels for an individual to acquire knowledge and skills in order to realize his or her value, the predominant one in modern society is through formal schooling. In fact, general and professional human capitals are acquired through formal schooling and on-the-job training. Generally speaking, the education one has received has a direct bearing on the human capital one possesses, which in turn affects his or her employability. In today's China, the minority ethnic population usually receives fewer years of education than the Han people do at average so that the minority ethnic group members are less employable than the Han people. To strive for more employment opportunities and for a higher living standard, the minority ethnic regions need to develop education by investing more funds and increasing the years of schooling for ethnic minority people so that their employability may be improved. This is essential when modern production means have prevailed in the society. It should not be ignored that the majority of jobs are provided by new and high-tech sectors that use modern production means. Seen from the whole society, the investment in ethnic minority human capital (including those from the government, individuals and enterprises) are subject to the influences of the overall planning and the relatively weak capability of minority ethnic people to invest in their education as well as other factors. In fact it is very difficult to narrow or even eliminate in a short period the gap between the years of schooling in East and West China and different ethnic groups. The fact that it is impossible to improve in a short period the employment situation of minority ethnic people through increasing investment in formal schooling needs to be acknowledged. This exactly shows the imperativeness of enhancing the employability of minority ethnic people. Besides expanding investments in general and professional human capital, it is also necessary to see the importance of how to transform the heterogeneous human capital possessed by diverse ethnic minority cultures into professional human capital.To place emphasis on the tradition, ethnicity and localness of cultures possessed by ethnic minority groups means to reflect on the cultural diversity ignored in the theory of human capital. Anthropology suggests to us that politics, economy and culture are all parts of the society, which are closely inter-connected to each other. What knowledge and skills of production and living can be viewed as human capital, whose value can be realized, is not unrelated to political system and socio-cultural background. Local knowledge and production and living skills where minority ethnic diversity exists are related to particular historical and natural conditions. To realize the transformation of these ethnic knowledge and skills to professional human capital requires a deep understanding of basic characteristics of modern society, and of status quo of ethnic minority areas and of modern education, and of diverse human developments and employments. On this basis, clarifying the relationship between institutional construction and employability of minority ethnic population and increasing the institutional channels for enhancing ethnic minority population's employability is of great theoretical and practical significances.