Labor Reforms in China: An Appraisal

Abstract

This paper traces the basic reforms in China's labor system and discusses the unexpected changes resulting from those reforms. Labor system reform in China was initiated in the late 1970s. The reform focused on relaxing direct control by various governmental departments and making better use of the market mechanisms in the labor market. Since the reform, people have more opportunities and freedom with respect to job selection and enterprise managers have more autonomy regarding hiring, rewarding and firing employees. Due to the simultaneous functioning of the dual system government control and market forces coupled with the lack of a well-established system, some people are distinctly more advantaged than others since the reforms. Corruption has increased drastically, most people are deeply frustrated and angered, something which contributed to the mass participation in the latest democratic movement in mid-1989.Qualataive rsearch method is used to analysed the labor reforms and law system in China .Based on research on China's labor system reform and comparison, our conclusions are that economic system reform and political system reform should be conducted simultaneously.