Wages, Benefits, Safeguarding of Rights, and the External Environment: A Comparative Study of Migrant Workers in the Pearl and Yangtze River Deltas

• Published in: Chinese sociology and anthropology 2009-10, Vol.42 (1), p.5-36
• Main Authors: Xiangdong, Wan, Linping, Liu, Yonghong, Zhang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: China; Comparative Analysis; Human capital; Management attitudes; Market; Markets; Migrant Workers; Rights; Social Relations; Social status; Survey data; Wages
• ISSN: 0009-4625
• DOI: 10.2753/CSA0009-4625420101

This article offers a comparative analysis of the basic status of migrant workers in the Pearl and Yangtze river deltas based on survey data from over 1,000 questionnaires completed by migrant workers in these two regions that covered wages, benefits, the safeguarding of rights and interests, personal safety, and the external environment. Our basic conclusion is that the status of migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta falls far below that of migrant workers in the Yangtze River Delta, and that the differences are clear. Apart from differences in human capital for workers in the two regions, institutional differences caused by factors such as enterprise structure may have an even more important role in causing these differences. The basic mode that enterprises in the Pearl River Delta use to deal with labor-capital relations is the "market model," while in the Yangtze River Delta they use the "human relationship model" and "legitimacy model." These are the basic institutional arrangements and differences of the two regions.