Employment, Unemployment, and Working Conditions in the Urban Labor Markets of Sub-Saharan Africa: Main Stylized Facts

Some of the most controversial aspects of China’s economic presence in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) relate to the social, political, and environmental impacts. Many of the claims that are made are based on anecdotal evidence, and there is a need for more systematic research on these aspects. In terms of social impacts, the chapter discusses employment, wages, working conditions, and labour rights. Political issues addressed include claims that China’s involvement supports authoritarian regimes, encourages corruption, and leads to conflict and political instability. These claims are not generally supported, and SSA countries have benefitted from the increased policy space that Chinese involvement gives them. The environmental effects of both increased exports to China and the activities of Chinese firms in SSA are analyzed. Contrasting case studies illustrate the negative impacts of China on forestry, and the positive effects of Chinese support for wind and solar power.

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Urban Labor Markets and Young Black Men: A Literature Review

Journal of Economic Issues ◽

10.1080/00213624.1995.11505640 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 29 (1) ◽

pp. 47-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Curtis Skinner

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Labor Markets ◽

Black Men ◽

Urban Labor ◽

Urban Labor Markets

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Labor Market Outcomes and Reforms in China

The Journal of Economic Perspectives ◽

10.1257/jep.26.4.75 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 75-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 174

Author(s):

Xin Meng

Keyword(s):

Labor Market ◽

Labor Markets ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Life Time ◽

Chinese Economy ◽

Registration System ◽

Rural And Urban ◽

Urban Labor ◽

Urban Labor Markets

Over the past few decades of economic reform, China's labor markets have been transformed to an increasingly market-driven system. China has two segregated economies: the rural and urban. Understanding the shifting nature of this divide is probably the key to understanding the most important labor market reform issues of the last decades and the decades ahead. From 1949, the Chinese economy allowed virtually no labor mobility between the rural and urban sectors. Rural-urban segregation was enforced by a household registration system called “hukou.” Individuals born in rural areas receive “agriculture hukou” while those born in cities are designated as “nonagricultural hukou.” In the countryside, employment and income were linked to the commune-based production system. Collectively owned communes provided very basic coverage for health, education, and pensions. In cities, state-assigned life-time employment, centrally determined wages, and a cradle-to-grave social welfare system were implemented. In the late 1970s, China's economic reforms began, but the timing and pattern of the changes were quite different across rural and urban labor markets. This paper focuses on employment and wages in the urban labor markets, the interaction between the urban and rural labor markets through migration, and future labor market challenges. Despite the remarkable changes that have occurred, inherited institutional impediments still play an important role in the allocation of labor; the hukou system remains in place, and 72 percent of China's population is still identified as rural hukou holders. China must continue to ease its restrictions on rural–urban migration, and must adopt policies to close the widening rural–urban gap in education, or it risks suffering both a shortage of workers in the growing urban areas and a deepening urban–rural economic divide.

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