{"id":11094,"date":"2015-05-01T09:30:39","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T13:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=11094"},"modified":"2015-04-30T06:13:58","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T10:13:58","slug":"chinas-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinas-workforce\/","title":{"rendered":"China’s Workforce – Past, Present, and Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

In many countries around the world – including China – May 1st is celebrated as Labor Day<\/strong> (\u52b3\u52a8\u8282 – l\u00e1o d\u00f2ng ji\u00e9). The date was chosen to commemorate the Haymarket affair which occurred in Chicago on May 4th, 1886. What started out as a peaceful rally pushing for an 8-hour work day ended in tragedy with a bomb blast that killed both police officers and civilians and wounded several. The holiday is also meant to honor laborers and the working class. In China, it’s only officially a one-day holiday, but people usually get three days in a row off by making up for it on the weekends before or after.\u00a0On this day, let’s take a closer look at labor in China.<\/p>\n

Past and Present<\/h1>\n
\"\u52b3\u52a8\u4eba\u6c11\u77e5\u8bc6\u5316<\/a>

\u52b3\u52a8\u4eba\u6c11\u77e5\u8bc6\u5316 – Laboring People.
Image by Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library from www.flickr.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

Long gone are the days of the Communist\u00a0work unit<\/strong> (\u5355\u4f4d – d\u0101n w\u00e8i) where people were assigned to a job for life, with each unit providing everything – housing, child care, schools, etc. These jobs were mostly with SOEs (state owned enterprises), and they were often referred to as an “iron rice bowl<\/strong>” (\u94c1\u996d\u7897 – ti\u011b f\u00e0n w\u01cen) – guaranteed job security with a steady income and benefits. Under that system, people had to get permission from their dan wei<\/em> to get married or have children, allowing the government to strictly control its one child policy. During this time, movement was heavily restricted and the urban population was kept at around 20%.<\/p>\n

Things started to change with Deng Xiaoping’s policy of “Reform and Opening Up<\/strong>” (\u6539\u9769\u5f00\u653e – g\u01cei g\u00e9 k\u0101i f\u00e0ng) in 1978. His economic reforms – often referred to as “Socialism with Chinese characteristics<\/strong>” \u00a0(\u4e2d\u56fd\u7279\u8272\u793e\u4f1a\u4e3b\u4e49 – zh\u014dng gu\u00f3 t\u00e8 s\u00e8 sh\u00e8 hu\u00ec zh\u01d4 y\u00ec) – led to competition between SOEs and private enterprises and eventually international companies. Not surprisingly, the state-owned companies lagged behind the competition. This led to tens of millions of layoffs in the traditional work units, while at the same time the growing economy demanded workers at the countless factories and construction sites in the cities. Population controls were finally relaxed, resulting in millions of rural laborers migrating to urban areas to fill these jobs.<\/p>\n