Human Capital and Rural Labor Issues

Stephan J. Goetz

doi:10.2307/1243446

Returns to Education in Different Job Locations for Off-Farm Wage Employment: Evidence from China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12020455 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 455

Author(s):

Weidong Wang ◽

Yongqing Dong ◽

Yunli Bai ◽

Renfu Luo ◽

Linxiu Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Capital ◽

Labor Markets ◽

Labor Force ◽

Returns To Education ◽

Rural China ◽

Rural Labor ◽

Wage Employment ◽

Big Cities ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

Representative Samples

In this study, we explore the returns to education among different job locations for off-farm wage employment using nationally representative samples from rural China. Through a series of robustness checks, we conclude that there is heterogeneity in returns to education for different job locations within the rural labor force. Specifically, we have found that the returns to education for laborers in big cities are significantly higher than those for laborers working both in ordinary cities and within counties. That is to say, the utility of education is better-reflected in big cities. We conclude that the returns to education in big cities are 5.4 percent, while the returns to education are no more than 1 percent in ordinary cities and within counties. These results suggest that labor markets in the underdeveloped regions of China have factors that undermine the productivity effect of human capital.

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The evolution of China's rural labor market in the 21st century: an empirical study based on nationally representative survey data at the household level

China Agricultural Economic Review ◽

10.1108/caer-06-2020-0134 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Tonglong Zhang ◽

Xiaowen Huang ◽

Lina Zhang ◽

Linxiu Zhang

Keyword(s):

Human Capital ◽

Labor Market ◽

Labor Markets ◽

Representative Survey ◽

Content Type ◽

Rural Labor ◽

Household Level ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

And Migration

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the development of China's rural labor markets and the identification of the important factors that affect rural labor's off-farm employment and migration.Design/methodology/approachBased on a set of long-term panel data, this paper makes a clear judgment on the trend of rural labor transfer. High-quality survey design makes it possible to examine the development of the rural labor market from multiple dimensions. Adding household fixed effects to the empirical model alleviates endogenous problems.FindingsThe authors find that the increasing trend toward off-farm employment, which is dominated by migration, has continued. There are some other important findings: (1). young male workers dominated off-farm employment, but the gap between groups continues to narrow; (2). the structure of employment is a good response to the economic transformation and (3). the quality of off-farm laborers, especially in terms of human capital, has also enhanced significantly and has continued to support off-farm employment and migration. These findings all indicate that the China's rural labor markets have been constantly improving in recent years, although there is still segmentation.Originality/valueIt is the first paper that uses a nationally representative survey data to address the development of rural labor market in the 21st century. With the help of a long-term panel data structure and by controlling the household-level fixed-effect, the authors obtained a deeper and more robust conclusion. Specifically, this article finds that whether it is for the off-farm transfer or the migration, the influence of labor age, gender, human capital and marital status is gradually weakening.

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Human Capital and China’s Future Growth

The Journal of Economic Perspectives ◽

10.1257/jep.31.1.25 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 25-48 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Hongbin Li ◽

Prashant Loyalka ◽

Scott Rozelle ◽

Binzhen Wu

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Human Capital ◽

Labor Force ◽

College Education ◽

Policy Recommendations ◽

Rural Labor ◽

Rural Workers ◽

Urban Workers ◽

Look Ahead

In this paper, we consider the sources and prospects for economic growth in China with a focus on human capital. First, we provide an overview of the role that labor has played in China's economic success. We then describe China's hukou policy, which divides China's labor force into two distinct segments, one composed of rural workers and the other of urban workers. For the rural labor force, we focus on the challenges of raising human capital by both increasing basic educational attainment rates as well as the quality of education. For the urban labor force, we focus on the issues of further expanding enrollment in college education as well as improving the quality of college education. We use a regression model to show the typical relationship between human capital and output in economies around the world and demonstrate how that relationship has evolved since 1980. We show that China has made substantial strides both in the education level of its population and in the way that education is being rewarded in its labor markets. However, as we look ahead, our results imply that China may find it impossible to maintain what appears to be its desired growth rate of 7 percent in the next 20 years; a growth rate of 3 percent over the next two decades seems more plausible. Finally, we present policy recommendations, which are rooted in the belief that China continues to have substantial room to improve the human capital of its labor force.

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