Labor Market Conditions and Social Insurance in China

Arbeitspapier

Fifteen years after the introduction of highly ambitious social insurance programs for urban Chinese workers, a large number of them remain un-insured. This paper examines the relationship between labor market conditions and social insurance participation among industrial firms in the pre-crisis years of 2000–2007. I find that increased labor tightness over this period was a quantitatively important driver of participation. Comparing different segments of the labor market, stronger response to tightness is found in sectors with the largest shares of un-insured: private firms, those with a larger share of low-educated workers, and those without labor unions. Increased tightness in the years ahead can therefore be expected to aid policy makers in social insurance implementation and in combating insurance inequality.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IFN Working Paper ; No. 924

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Firm Behavior: Theory ; Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search ; Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
• Subject: Social insurance ; Employer participation ; Labor market tightness ; People’s Republic of China

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Rickne, Johanna
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)
• (where): Stockholm
• (when): 2012

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/81439
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET