The Impact of Occupational Characteristics on Income Differences among Urban Employees in China

摘要

, 20051%, , 12-17%: , ; , , ; , , , : Occupation is an important variable that determines employees’ labor income and thereby influences income differences among residents. On the basis of the subsample of data from the One Percent National Population Sample Survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in China in 2005, this paper conducts an empirical analysis of the relationship between occupation and income differences. It finds that inter-occupational income differences explain 12-17 percent of the total income disparity among urban employees. This inter-occupational income disparity is mainly caused by the fact that, first, different occupations have varying human capital requirements, leading to different labor remuneration, and second, labor market and regional segmentation impede the free flow of labor across different occupations. The first factor highlights the role of human capital, and should be seen as a positive effect of market-oriented reform, while the second reflects the incompleteness of this reform at the present stage. Therefore, to narrow unreasonable inter-occupational income gaps, we need to intensify reform and do our best to remove barriers hindering free mobility between occupations.View full textDownload full textKeywordsoccupation, income differences, difference decomposition, market segmentationRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02529203.2011.598306