Stabilization and structuralization: transformations of China's labor market from the perspective of new institutionalism (2006–2017)

Abstract

Precarious work in China has drawn increasing attention, and this paper examines its changing trends from 2006 to 2017. It finds that as the state intensifies its intervention in the labor market, employers face a conflicting institutional environment with the demands of the technological environment. Employers meet the legitimacy requirements of state policy by increasing the number of stable jobs on the one hand and reducing the labor costs of unstable workers on the other hand to smooth out the increase in labor costs caused by the increase in stable workers, resulting in a stronger segmentation of the “stable–unstable” dichotomy. These two processes are more pronounced in the private sector because of the stronger tensions between legitimization and performance maximization.