Job mobility of residents and migrants in urban China

The large-scale reform of the state-owned sector and the development of a private sector in the 1990s changed the nature of employment in urban China. The system of allocated, lifelong jobs, denoted the iron rice bowl, that had previously prevailed under state planning was eroded, permitting more labor turnover and mobility. Using an urban household survey for 1999 that has rich data on job duration and job change, we analyze inter-firm mobility in the urban labor market, its evolution, and its explanation. A distinction is made between the institutionally favored urban residents and the rural–urban migrants. The mobility rate of migrants greatly exceeds that of urban residents. The extent, patterns, determinants, and consequences of mobility for the two groups are explored and compared. Journal of Comparative Economics 32 (4) (2004) 637–660.