Abstract
A well-documented finding in social stratification research is that employees in larger work organizations earn more than those in smaller ones. This research first extends the institutional context of this topic from the typical market economy to transitional China. Mainly using two sets of nationally representative survey data, the research examines the changing pattern of size-earnings relation from 1996 to 2006. Results show that a significant size-earnings premium also exists in urban China and that it doubled during this 10-year period. Moreover, individual and organizational characteristics played contrasting roles in explaining the observed size-earnings relationship. Specifically, individual characteristics had no impact on the size effect in 1996 but did reduce it in 2006; on the contrary, organizational characteristics partly explain the size effect in 1996 but not in 2006. These findings are explained as the results of increasing labor mobility and a declining redistributive mechanism during this period, thus suggesting the development of China’s urban labor market.
Highlights
The “new structuralism” in social stratification research highlights the role of structure in the status attainment process
This research attempts to extend the analysis on the relationship between organization size and economic stratification into urban China, the second-largest national economy in the world, and an economy quickly changing from a redistributive system to a marketoriented system
In 1996, about 45.69 % of the employees worked in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and only 5.81 % worked in private enterprises
Summary
The “new structuralism” in social stratification research highlights the role of structure in the status attainment process. Previous studies focusing on size-earnings relation typically have found that employees of larger organizations earn more than those who work for smaller employers, and many propositions have been made to explain this relationship.
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