Work, Wage And Welfare Entitlement: Migrant Workers In Urban Labor Market In China

Since the opening-up reform in1978, the income and employment inequalitiesbetween rural and urban areas as well as between regions have increased significantly.In the meantime, the hukou (household registration) system, which has impeded thefree flow of labour and led to the segmentation of labour market, has been loosened.Consequently, there has in recent decades been an increasing scale of people movingto a very small number of well-developed coastal regions and large cities, many ofwhom do not have local hukou (household registration). As an integral part ofChina’s economic growth, the large scale of floating population has contributedconsiderably to China’s socio-economic development, approximately21%of GDPgrowth and75%of the urbanization growth between1978and1999. However, manystudies reveal that the majority of migrant workers are treated differently from urbanlocals in the urban labour market due to their hukou status. Along with the increasingscale of migrant workers and centralized distribution, the discrimination againstmigrant workers has negative effect on socio-economic development, the industrialadjustment, labour market development and the social stability.Base on the migration theory, the discrimination theory and segmented labourmarket theory, this study utilizes different econometric models to examine themigration selectivity and the extent of discrimination against migrant workers andfemale workers in each group in employment, wage and welfare entitlement. Theresults suggest that:(1) In terms of migration selectivity, the factor of education has an increasing effecton migration propensity. The effects of socio-economic development on migrationpropensity are different in different regions. Population mobility has intensified theimbalance between rural and urban areas as well as between regions, which couldresult in a larger scale of population migration in the future.(2) With respect to employment, the extent of discrimination against migrantworkers shows an upward trend as a whole. Compared with urban locals, urbanmigrants and rural migrants face the mistreatment in engaging in professional and technical personnel and clerks. The extent of discrimination against the latter is muchlarger than that against the former. Female workers are discriminated in engaging inprofessional and technical personnel and equipment operators. However, thechanging patterns of the extent of discrimination are exactly opposite. In addition, theextent of discrimination against female urban locals is greater than that against femalemigrant workers. In terms of industrial attainment, migrant workers are discriminatedin entering the medium-wage industries compared with urban locals, and the extent ofdiscrimination against urban migrants is greater than that against rural migrants.Within the group of migrant workers, rural migrants face severe discrimination inentering the medium and high-wage industries compared with urban migrants. Theextent of discrimination against female urban migrants is much lower than thatagainst female urban locals in entering the low-wage industrial category, whileslightly greater than that against female rural migrants in entering the medium-wageindustrial category.(3) In terms of wage income, a significant wage distribution difference existsbetween groups and between male and female workers in each group, most of whichis the consequence of discrimination when all productivity-related factors arecontrolled. Between1993and2006, the extent of discrimination against migrantworkers showed an inverted U-shape at different quantiles. Compared with urbanlocals, rural migrants above medium income level and urban migrants below mediumlevel income tend to be discriminated against. The extent of discrimination increasesgradually as wage increases and decreases. Compared with urban migrants, ruralmigrants are discriminated at all income levels. The extent of discrimination increaseswith the increment of income levels. The similar decomposition results are obtainedafter considering the problem of undervaluation. The only differences are that migrantworkers change to be discriminated at some income levels and the extent ofdiscrimination becomes greater with the increment of underestimated degree in wagedistribution. The decomposition results of the gender wage gaps in each group showthat, female urban locals and migrant workers all have been discriminated in wageearnings since1993, but their changing patterns and the relative strength of the degreeof gender discrimination are different. Before2000at the lower-middle income level the extent of gender discrimination in the group of urban locals was far less than thatin the group of migrant workers. However, at the upper-medium income level thesituation was on the contrary. In addition, the gap between the two groups widenedgradually at lower-medium income level and above. From the decomposition resultswithin the three groups, it can be seen that there are “gradient” differences in theextent of gender discrimination in groups of urban locals, rural migrants and urbanmigrants.(4) The decomposition results show that more than50%of welfare entitlementdifference is due to the discrimination. Compared with urban locals, the extent ofdiscrimination experienced by rural migrants in access to the total number of benefitswas greater than that experienced by urban migrants. In terms of individual items ofbenefits, compared with urban locals and urban migrants, rural migrants experiencethe discrimination in obtaining all individual items of benefits. The extent ofdiscrimination against rural migrants compared with urban locals is little higher thanthat compared with urban migrants. However, in access to public holidays andweekend leave, rural migrants are discriminated only compared with urban locals,while not compared with urban migrants. The decomposition results of thedifferences between male and female workers in each group show that in general theextents to which the gender discrimination against female urban migrants and ruralmigrants are higher than that against female urban locals.Finally, we summarize the measures taken by both Chinese and Western countriesto reduce or eliminate the discrimination and the experience they got. The study putsforward to some specific measures aimed at the defects, such as the imperfect ofexisting legal system in formulating and implementing anti-discrimination laws andregulations as well as lack of specialized agency and relief approaches inanti-employment discrimination, to reduce the discrimination in urban labour market.