Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58445 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6492
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Using a national sample of Urban Household Surveys, we document several profound changes in China's wage structure during a period of rapid economic growth. Between 1992 and 2007, the average real wage increased by 202 percent, accompanied by a sharp rise in wage inequality. Decomposition analysis reveals 80 percent of this wage growth to be attributable to higher pay for basic labor, rising returns to human capital, and increases in the state-sector wage premium. Employing an aggregate production function framework, we account for the sources of wage growth and wage inequality in the face of globalization and economic transition. We find capital accumulation, skill-biased technological change, and export expansion to be the major forces behind the evolving wage structure in China.
Subjects: 
wage growth
wage premium
capital accumulation
trade expansion
technological change
China
JEL: 
J31
E24
O40
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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