CAER中国农村改革40周年专题之《四十年来中国农村的非农就业》

本期导读：

本文采用2000年和2008年进行的《中国农村调查》以及2005年，2008年，2012年和2016年进行的《中国农村发展调查》两组面板调查数据，分析了改革开放以来中国农村劳动力非农就业的演变情况，并探索了农村劳动力市场的发展是否可以更有效地促进中国经济的转型。

Off-farm employment over the past four decades in rural China

Linxiu Zhang, Yongqing Dong, Chengfang Liu, Yunli Bai (pp. 190-214)

Keywords:China, Rural development, Employment, labor use and migration

Type:Research paper

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the trend of off-farm employment in rural China over the past four decades since the reform and opening-up.

Design/methodology/approach

Using two sets of panel survey data, the China National Rural Survey conducted in 2000 and 2008, and the China Rural Development Survey conducted in 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2016, this study offers are-visit of China’s off-farm employment to give us the latest information about its evolution and whether rural labor markets have developed in a way that will allow them to facilitate the transformation of China’s economy more effectively. The evolution of off-farm employment is further examined through decomposition of types, destinations, industries, and population sub-groups as well as the change in the wage rate.

Findings

The data show the rapid increase in rural labor activities over the whole study period.Most notably, the authors finded that a rapid rise in off-farm employment has continued even until after 2008 and into the mid- 2010s, which is a time when some feared that macroeconomic conditions might keep rural residents on the farm or drive them back to the farm. In the disaggregation of labor market trends, the authors show that labor markets are acting consistently with an economy that is in transition from being dominated by agriculture to being dominated by other forms of production and with a population that is consistently becoming more urban.

Originality/value

The authors believe that the results will contribute positively to the exploration of answers to the question whether or not rural labor markets have developed in a way that will allow them to facilitate the transformation of China's economy more effectively over the last four decades.

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