In recent years, IZA has been very active in fostering research on Chinese labor markets by organizing workshops and conferences, making China data and scientific use files publicly available to the scientific community, publishing articles and editing journal issues, and leading an EU-funded exchange of researchers between Europe and China.
IZA/CIER Workshop in Beijing
The traditional annual workshop co-organized by IZA and the Center for Employment Research in China (CIER) at Renmin University of China was held in Beijing on October 26-27, 2013. The program was put together by
Corrado Giulietti (IZA),
Klaus F. Zimmermann (IZA and University of Bonn),
Zhong Zhao and
Xiangquan Zeng (both at Renmin University of China and IZA). It featured sessions on labor economics themes that are at the core of both research and policy debate in China.
Shi Li (Beijing Normal University and IZA) and
Simon Chang (Central University of Finance and Economics) presented their recent works on the relationship between the business cycle and its effect on the wage distribution. A session on human capital included presentations by
Yang Du (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and IZA) and
Costanza Biavaschi (IZA), who covered schooling dynamics and performance in rural and urban areas. The studies presented by
Shihe Fu (Xiamen University) and
Junfu Zhang (Clark University and IZA) covered issues related to urbanization and agglomerations.
A session was devoted to presenting works related to labor market institutions, with contributions from
Hartmut Lehmann (University of Bologna and IZA),
Yang Song and
Yihua Yu (both at Renmin University of China).
Albert Park (Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and IZA) and
Qi Sun (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics) discussed the health effects of public expenditure and taxes, respectively. The presentations by
Luigi Minale (University College London) and
Jackline Wahba (University of Southampton and IZA) focused on explaining the dynamics behind the rural-urban migration in China.
Jun Han (Nankai University) and
Hau Chyi (Renmin University of China) outlined their work on how, respectively, market structure and the task content of jobs can affect workers’ and households’ welfare.
The final session involved the presentation of data on China, with contributions from Zhong Zhao, who provided highlights from the piloting of the China Matched Employer-Employee Longitudinal Survey carried out by the Renmin University of China, from
Tao Kong (Peking University), who gave an introduction about the China Health and Retirement Survey (CHARLES) conducted by Peking University, and from Corrado Giulietti, who illustrated the content and features of the Rural-to-Urban Migration in China (RUMiC) dataset.
The papers are available online:
www.iza.org/conference_files/CIER2013
CES Session at ASSA Meeting in Philadelphia
Following the event in Beijing, a conference session entitled “Labor market issues in China: Evidence from the RUMiC Longitudinal Survey” was organized by IZA for the Chinese Economist Society at the ASSA Meeting in Philadelphia in January 2014. Chaired by IZA Director Klaus F. Zimmermann, the session featured four papers based on RUMiC data. The introductory paper was presented by Corrado Giulietti, who outlined how the RUMiC Longitudinal Survey fosters research on labor markets in China. The paper provides a description of the survey, its structure, sampling frame and tracking method, and provides an overview of the topics covered, and a review of existing studies based on the RUMiC data.
Li Shi (Beijing Normal University) presented work on the international financial crisis and wage inequality in urban China. The paper uses the Urban Household Survey of the RUMiC to investigate the effect of the government stimulus package, introduced by the Chinese government right after the 2007/8 international financial crisis, on wage growth and inequality. The findings indicate that the stimulus policies contributed to narrowing wage inequality in urban China. However, as the impact of the policy started to fade around 2010, wage inequality was observed to rise again.
Zhong Zhao presented a paper on labor contracts of Chinese rural-to-urban migrants, using the RUMiC Migrant Household Survey to explore the determinants of the type of labor contract of the migrants and how these determinants have changed in recent years. Preliminary results show that there is a considerable increase in the share of long-term labor contract among migrants, albeit migrants are less likely to hold long-term contracts compared with urban natives. Furthermore, while work experience is helpful to obtain long-term labor contracts, education seems to play a minor role.
Costanza Biavaschi (IZA) presented findings from her study highlighting the importance of the effects of parental migration on the educational outcomes of children left behind by focusing on sibling interactions. Empirical results show that sibling influence on schooling performance is stronger among left-behind children.
RUMiC data: Second wave publicly available
The second wave of the RUMiC data is now available at the International Data Service Center (IDSC) of IZA. The RUMiC consists of three components: the Urban Household Survey, the Rural Household Survey and the Migrant Household Survey. It was initiated by a group of researchers at the Australian National University, the University of Queensland and the Beijing Normal University and has been supported by IZA, which provides the Scientific Use Files. RUMiC is a unique tool to explore topical issues of the Chinese labor market. A recent paper (IZA DP No. 7860) illustrates the technical aspects of RUMiC, including its sampling frame, tracking method and the topics covered. RUMic data can be requested at:
http://idsc.iza.org/?page=27&id=58
“Europe Meets China”
During 2012 and 2013, IZA led the exchange program “Europe Meets China: Images of contemporary China” financed under the EU FP7 Marie Curie Actions. The program consisted of exchanges of researchers between IZA, CERGE and Renmin University of China. As part of their international visits, researchers fully participated in the activities of the host institutions, such as seminars, lectures and workshops, and actively collaborated in joint research projects. “The exchange was a great opportunity for European scholars to learn more about labor market issues that are peculiar to China, and for Chinese scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on labor issues with their European peers,” said IZA Research Director Corrado Giulietti, who coordinated the activities. The exchange has also generated new project ideas and provided the basis for current collaborations between IZA and other Chinese institutions, including Beijing Normal University and the Institute for Population and Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
