ABSTRACT

Unemployment in China offers a new and invaluable insight into the Chinese economy, keenly analyzing the new directions the world's next superpower is now taking.

Successfully bringing together a wide range of research and evidence from leading scholars in the field, this book shows how unemployment is one of the key issues facing the Chinese economy. China's market-oriented economic reform and industrial restructuring, while greatly improving efficiency, have also sharply reduced overstaffing, leading to a large increase in unemployment. 

At the same time, further restructuring is predicted as the full impact of the accession to the WTO is felt throughout China.  A further problem is that new jobs in China's growth industries are more likely to be secured by younger, better-qualified workers than by older, poorly educated and unskilled workers who have been laid off.  This book discusses a wide range of issues related to the growing unemployment problem in China and examines the problems in particular cities, appraises the government response, and assesses the prospects going forward.

part I|62 pages

General

chapter |14 pages

1 Setting the scene

Unemployment in China

chapter |27 pages

3 Urban unemployment in China

A background analysis (1995–2003)

part II|86 pages

Themes

chapter |19 pages

6 Beyond the Iron Rice Bowl

Life stage and family dynamics in unemployed Chinese workers

chapter |21 pages

7 No wage and no land

New forms of unemployment in rural China

part IV|8 pages

Conclusion

chapter |6 pages

13 Conclusion

Unemployment in China