The Estimation Of Labor Value In China Based On Wage Risk Method

This paper studies the value of a statistical life(VSL)in China.Based on the data of Chinese General Social Survey(CGSS)in 2012,this paper adopts the wage risk method to establish the hedonic wage model and measures the value of life in China.This article not only carries on the comprehensive measurement to laborer's life value in our country,but also discusses laborer's life value according to the city and countryside,the region,and the profession.The article measures the average life value of China's labor force is 57.513 million yuan,which is equivalent to 6.947 million US dollars in 2000.This result is far higher than the estimate of domestic and foreign scholars on the value of China's labor force,it is also far higher than the current standard of death compensation in China.China's legal provisions,whether employees casualties or accidental death,compensation standards are based on the wages of workers as a standard multiple of compensation.There are some problems in the existing standard of compensation system for casualties.It only takes into account the individual labor value factor,ignoring the social value and self-worth.In addition,the amount of death compensation in China is far lower than that in foreign developed countries.Domestic calculation of compensation method is simple,generally linked to the average wage in the region,and mental injury pensions are also very low.While foreign calculation of compensation method is more complex and more comprehensive.Although the estimate of VSL in this paper can't directly become the standard of death compensation,it can provide an important basis for measuring the value of individual life and assessing the benefits of strengthening security measures to compensate for the current standard of compensation.China's future compensation system should also learn from the experience of Western developed countries,and the government should make efforts to improve the death compensation treatment.China's urban life value is about three times that of rural areas,exposing the harsh reality of the serious inequality of income between urban and rural residents.There are also differences in the value of life between the eastern,central and western regions of China.At present,China's law for the fatal accident compensation standards is very different in urban areas,rural areas and different regions,and the huge difference is also very unreasonable.On the one hand,the government should invest more educationfunds,infrastructure construction in rural areas and remote central and western regions to improve the average wage of workers in these areas;on the other hand,our current compensation law should be combined with regional differences to make it fairer.The VSL of workers in the general industry is about 2 times that of the workers in the dangerous industry,but the average wage in the dangerous industry is not low,which reveals the serious difference of the labor income in China's dangerous industry.High profits are monopolized by the industry minority,and most lower-class workers can only get low wages.The government should introduce specific law to protect the interests of workers in Hazardous industries.In addition,for high-risk industries such as coal mines and chemical industry,the government should further improve the accountability mechanism,taking the social conditions of victims into full account and improve the amount of compensation.And safety laws and regulations which are aimed to urge enterprises to strengthen production safety should also be put in place.The VSL of union workers is much higher than that of nonunion workers,which fully demonstrates the positive role of union in improving the value of labor force.The union workers are more familiar with industry risks than nonunion workers,and the union workers have the ability to negotiate wages with the company.The nature of the union in China is also very different from that in western countries,and the scale is quite different.Therefore,I think it is necessary for us to learn from union organization model in western countries,in order to better protect the interests of workers.