Labour Policy Reform

Abstract

Labour markets are central features of capitalist societies but are not supposed to be central to socialist societies. In the socialist society, the means of production are owned by the whole society; every person is a master of the means of production and everyone has the obligation and right to work (Feng, 1982, p.2). For many years after the Revolution of 1949, China sought to conform to the socialist paradigm. Since the late 1970s, however, reform initiatives have increasingly introduced labour markets into the Chinese economy. Because the Chinese Communist regime continues to deny an individual’s private labour rights, treating them instead as a national resource, the terminology has often been contested. Until 1994 reform economists were careful to avoid direct use of the term ‘labour market’, preferring to use terms such as ‘labour service market’ (laowu shichang). The same squeamishness prompted the use of the term ‘waiting for employment’ instead of ‘unemployment’ before 1994. In addition, the Chinese reality has often been much more complex than any neat division would suggest (both pre- and post-reform). Nevertheless, there certainly has been change and that is what this chapter will investigate.