Research On The Impact Of Higher Education In China On The Income Gap Of Urban Residents

Since the reform and opening up,China’s economy has been growing rapidly,and the income level of residents has been improved rapidly,but the income gap between residents is also expanding.Appropriate income gap is conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm of all the citizens to invest in socialist construction,but too large income gap will hinder the sustainable development of economy and reduce the consumption demand and living welfare level of residents.And with the advancement of urbanization,more and more rural population into urban employment,urban population has accounted for more than half of the total population,this shows that urban residents income gap occupies a large proportion in the total income gap,thus to explore the causes of urban residents income gap,analysis the factors of contribution degree is necessary.In the numerous factors that affect the income gap,education is a highly focus of attention of academics and higher education as an important stage in the process of education,as a result of national expansion policy in recent years,higher education status of urban residents of continuously changed,our country’s college enrollment in a steady rise every year,so higher education occupies much proportion in the influence factors of income gap,is a problem worthy of studying.Exploring the causes of urban residents’ income gap and analyzing the impact of higher education and other factors on the income gap can not only provide valuable reference for individual choices,but also help the government to formulate more directional education policies and income gap control policies.This article starts from the perspective of higher education,using the data of the Chinese Household Income Project(CHIP)2002,2007 and 2013,and using the regression-based Sharpley value decomposition method to decompose the Gini coefficient,Theil index and logarithm.The income gap measured by the mean deviation,analyzes the contribution degree and changing trend of higher education and other factors to the income gap of urban residents.At the same time,this paper considers the problem of sample selection bias,and finds that the sample selection bias cannot be ignored when studying the income gap of urban residents,and uses the Heckman two-step method to correct the bias.The research conclusions of this article are as follows:(1)The contribution of higher education to the income gap of urban residents is increasing year by year,and the ranking has risen from fourth in 2002 to third in 2007.It rose to the top of the list in 2013,and the ranking changes under the three income gap measures are the same.(2)In the results by region,higher education still has a large impact on the income gap of urban residents.Although the relative impact of the eastern region has increased first and then decreased,the ranking has increased year by year.The contribution and rankings of the central and western regions have shown an upward trend year by year.(3)Analysis of other factors affecting the income gap of urban residents found that:the contribution of regional factors,occupational factors,and industry factors to the income gap has always been high;the contribution of household registration,health,and political outlook factors to the income gap is in contrast On the low side;the contribution of gender factors to the income gap is increasing year by year,and it is the main factor affecting the income gap.The contribution of unit type to the income gap has been decreasing year by year,and it can be ignored by 2013.The effect of work experience first declines and then rises,and the overall impact on the income gap increases.(4)Research by region found that there are some differences in the impact of other factors in different regions of my country on the income gap of urban residents:in the eastern region,the type of occupation is always the most important factor,and the type of industry is also ranked in higher education in 2002 and 2007 Before the factor,and in 2013 it was second only to the higher education factor.The contribution of occupational types and industry types in the central and western regions generally showed a downward trend,and the degree of influence of gender factors in 2013 rose to second only to higher education factors.The trends and rankings of other factors are generally consistent with the results at the national level.Based on the above conclusions,this article puts forward corresponding policy recommendations:(1)Improve the quality of basic education;(2)Increase funding for colleges and universities;(3)Promote cooperation and exchanges between colleges and universities;(4)Increase Provide education assistance to the central and western regions and increase education funding for poverty-stricken areas;(5)Break the barriers to labor mobility and optimize the allocation of labor resources.