From work unit segmentation to occupational segmentation: non-smooth structural changes in China’s labor market from 1994 to 2018

Abstract

China’s labor market has changed dramatically since the beginning of reform and opening up. Previous studies have pointed out that marketization changed the segmentation structure of China’s labor market. However, there was a lack of theoretical derivation of the mechanism, and empirical analysis was relatively rough due to methodological limitations. In this study, a pseudo-employer mobility temporal network was constructed for China’s labor market from 1994 to 2018. Based on the temporal network analysis, this study finds the following: first, China’s labor market is now structurally more open and flexible than it was before market-oriented reforms; second, the labor market in China has seen a shift from work unit segmentation to occupational segmentation; third, non-smoothness manifests itself in the structural changes in China’s labor market. China’s labor market quickly disintegrated after the launch of market-oriented reforms in the 1990s and then ushered in a turbulent period of drastic changes. It was after this turbulent period had ended that the present labor market structure took shape.