Economic transition and private-sector labor: Evidence from urban China

•This paper studies the transition of labor from the state sector to the infant private sector in urban China.•The first wave of housing reforms, which untied access to urban housing from working for the state sector, increased private housing ownership.•The same wave of housing reforms also signifi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Comparative Economics 2019-09, Vol.47 (3), p.579-600
Main Authors: Iyer, Lakshmi, Meng, Xin, Qian, Nancy, Zhao, Xiaoxue
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
China
Economic transition
Housing reform
Labor mobility
Structural change
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Summary:•This paper studies the transition of labor from the state sector to the infant private sector in urban China.•The first wave of housing reforms, which untied access to urban housing from working for the state sector, increased private housing ownership.•The same wave of housing reforms also significantly increased private-sector employment and reduced private-sector wages.•The housing reform had no effect on unemployment or self-employment. This paper studies the transition of labor from the state sector to the infant private sector in urban China. We examine the impact of the first wave of housing reforms, which untied access to housing in urban areas from working for the state sector. We find that the reform significantly increased private housing ownership and private-sector employment, and reduced private-sector wages. The housing reform had no effect on unemployment or self-employment.
ISSN:0147-5967
1095-7227
DOI:10.1016/j.jce.2019.04.003