Job Placement and Job Shift across Employment Sectors in Reform-Era China: The Effects of Education

Lijuan Wu, Pennsylvania State University

Using the first wave (1989) and the fourth wave (1997) of the CHNS data, this study investigates the effects of education on job placement among the employment sectors for young workers (age 17 to 24) and the job shift across the employment sectors for older workers (age 25 to 44) in China. The change of these effects on young workers’ job placement from 1989 to 1997 is also examined. It is found that education is important in determining young workers’ employment sectors and older workers’ destination of employment sector if they change jobs, and the better-educated workers are more likely to have access to the state and collective sector. The findings suggest that access to different employment sectors is not equally distributed among Chinese workers. The hierarchy of employment sectors is reproduced through the procedure that assorts individual workers of different education levels to different employment sectors.