Abstract
In cities, complementarity between a low-skilled and a high-skilled workforce can promote each other to improve labor productivity. In this study, we used earlier census data and 1% population survey data to examine the distribution of the skilled workforce in cities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) along with its changes, and drew the following three conclusions. First, a highly skilled workforce is the engine of urban development, increasing urban wages and population. Second, big cities can promote complementarity between skill sets so that there are greater numbers of high-skilled and low-skilled workers in those cities. This explains why both low-skilled and high-skilled workforces agglomerate in big cities. Last, complementarity between the low-skilled and high-skilled workforce is inhibited in the PRC’s cities because of the biased household registration system (HRS) toward the high-skilled workforce, resulting in limited supply of low-skilled labor. This policy is not conducive to enhance labor productivity in big cities and to carry out its leading role of economic growth.
Highlights
Since the start of the 21st century, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has faced an investment expansion and export-led extensive expansion that have been unsustainable
Following the introduction in the first section, we demonstrate the effects of high-skilled labor on urban development, especially population increase and wage upgrade in the second section; the third section explains that urban development will promote skill complementarities; the fourth section analyzes the influences of the skill-biased household registration system (HRS) on skill complementarity and spatial distribution of different workforces; and the fifth section summarizes the paper
We studied the spatial distribution of skills and the corresponding changes in the PRC’s cities using earlier census data and reached the following three conclusions: (i) A high-skilled workforce is the engine of urban development, promoting urban wages and population size
Summary
Since the start of the 21st century, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has faced an investment expansion and export-led extensive expansion that have been unsustainable. Complementarity between the low-skilled and high-skilled workforces is inhibited in the PRC’s cities because of the biased HRS toward the high-skilled workforce, resulting in a limited supply of low-skilled labor. This policy is not conducive to enhance labor productivity in big cities and to carry out its leading role of economic growth. We demonstrate the effects of high-skilled labor on urban development, especially population increase and wage upgrade in the second section; the third section explains that urban development will promote skill complementarities; the fourth section analyzes the influences of the skill-biased HRS on skill complementarity and spatial distribution of different workforces; and the fifth section summarizes the paper Following the introduction in the first section, we demonstrate the effects of high-skilled labor on urban development, especially population increase and wage upgrade in the second section; the third section explains that urban development will promote skill complementarities; the fourth section analyzes the influences of the skill-biased HRS on skill complementarity and spatial distribution of different workforces; and the fifth section summarizes the paper
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