Citation
Lehmann, Hartmut (2012). Wirtschaftlicher Wandel und unfreiwilliger Arbeitsplatzverlust in China und Russland: Inzidenz und Kosten. Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung/Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, 81(3), 99-123.Abstract
This study analyzes the costs of displacement in the emerging economies Russia and Chinaduring a period of restructuring. In the case of Russia we use data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) for the years 2003 to 2008, including data from a supplement on displacement administered in 2008. For China we employ a sample of migrants and a sample of workers with urban residence permit (“hukou”) from the Rural to-Urban-Migration-in-China (RUMIC) data. Our analysis shows that the displacement of workers during the restructuring process imposes large costs on the affected workers in both countries. In Russia, these costs consist above all in large foregone earnings due to a long average duration of non-employment, reduced hours worked and a low employment rate. Relative wage penalties for re-employed displaced workers cannot be found, however. The analysis of the Chinese samples points to a segmented urban labor market. Whilst workers with “hukou“, if displaced, experience on average a long duration of non-employment and relative wage penalties upon re employment, migrants do not experience these costs The labor market for migrants in China, can, therefore, be considered competitive while the labor market for workers with “hukou”
exhibits substantial frictions.