50
@
U S T . H K
Work Shifts and Labor Costs
Prof Albert Park has been involved in several other data collection
projects that provide valuable insights into the Chinese labor
market. He played a key role in the China Urban Labor Survey,
undertaken with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in
2001, 2005 and 2010, with another planned for this year. Each
of the earlier surveys investigated the employment situation of
over 5,000 urban residents and migrant households in Fuzhou,
Shanghai, Shenyang, Wuhan and Xian. The results of research
using these data revealed how workers coped with major
economic restructuring of state-owned enterprises in the late
1990s as well as the global financial crisis in 2008. Studies
also showed how workers’ employment conditions have been
influenced by the 2008 Labor Contract Law, which significantly
improved protection.
In 2015, Prof Park directed a new survey of employers and
employees in manufacturing firms in Guangdong, in collaboration
with several Chinese institutions, to assess how firms and
workers are responding to rapidly rising labor costs. “Chinese
firms are now under great competitive pressure and will need to
continue to innovate and raise productivity to create high-quality
jobs in the next stage of development,” he said. “We need to learn
more about what factors are influencing this transition.”
Showing the evolving nature of the research tools employed, the
2015 survey included an innovative method to measure cognitive
function in which respondents are asked to complete different
number series in order to measure their fluid intelligence – the
capacity to reason and solve logical problems.
ElderlyWell-being
In its 2013 baseline report, CHARLS findings drew considerable
media attention, revealing that elderly well-being is currently
very poor in China. Analysis showed 22.9% of those over 60 –
more than 40 million people – lived below the poverty line, and
40% revealed elevated depressive symptoms. Older women were
found to be more likely to be in poor physical and mental health
than men. Data further showed that only around 47% received
financial transfers from non-coresident children and the median
transfer amount was modest, indicating that family support for
the elderly in China may not be as great a source of assistance
as commonly assumed. The overall response rate for the survey
was 80%, which is viewed as exceptionally high internationally.
“These people lived through a tumultuous period of history
when the country was very, very poor. Even if things subsequently
improve a lot, your basic human capital – health, education – are
all affected by what you went through when you were young,”
Prof Park said. “It is a bleak picture today but it will improve for
later generations.”
In another recent study using CHARLS data (“Age-Expen-
25%
China’s elderly will
account for almost
of
CHINA’S
total population
by 2050
of over-60s
22.9%
LIVE BELOW
POVERTY LINE
of over-60s
LESS THAN
receive money transfers
from non-coresident
children
50%
