Understanding job mobility patterns in contemporary China: A comparative study based on the China Family Panel Studies and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics

Abstract

Based on a comparison between labor markets in China and those in the USA and using data from the China Family Panel Studies and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this paper studies the level, distribution and socioeconomic patterns of job mobility in contemporary China. I first discuss the different social contexts in China and the USA that have generated distinct opportunity structures of job mobility. Differences in levels of economic development, cultural traditions and institutional arrangements help to shape different labor markets and job mobility patterns across the two societies. I argue that job mobility is not always as good as we thought. There is a duality of job mobility at both the individual and the societal levels. Second, I develop several indexes and use the percentile share method to analyze job mobility rates by different groups and their uneven distributions. Compared to the USA, I find that China has a lower overall level of job mobility, a more skewed distribution and a higher concentration of mobility in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, such as the elderly, the less-educated and those of rural origin. The results demonstrate the importance of understanding the duality of mobility; that is, that mobility can be either upward or downward. In contemporary China, socioeconomically disadvantaged people may suffer downward job mobility.