Weathering a Storm : Survey-Based Perspectives on Employment in China in the Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis
Evidence from a range of different sources suggests that Chinese workers lost 20-36 million jobs because of the global financial crisis. Most of these layoffs affected migrant workers, who have typically lacked employment protection, tend to be con...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20120305140151 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3273 |
| Summary: | Evidence from a range of different
sources suggests that Chinese workers lost 20-36 million
jobs because of the global financial crisis. Most of these
layoffs affected migrant workers, who have typically lacked
employment protection, tend to be concentrated in
export-oriented sectors, and were among the easiest to
dismiss when the crisis hit. Although it was severe, the
employment shock was short-lived. By mid-2009, the
macroeconomic stimulus and other interventions had succeeded
in boosting demand for migrant labor. By early 2010,
abundant evidence pointed to scarcity in China's labor
market, as labor demand was once again leading to brisk
growth in wages.The paper reviews different available
sources of evidence for the effects of the crisis, and notes
the biases associated with alternative ex post efforts to
measure the employment effects of the crisis. In particular,
the paper highlights the usefulness of household surveys
with employment histories relative to surveys based on
sampling through firms. |
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