Wage Levels of Rural Migrant Workers in China during 1979-2010: Estimates and Trends*

Lu Feng
National School of Development, Peking University, Beijing, China

 
Abstract: Studies on long-term wage levels of rural migrant workers are rarely found in relevant literature. On the basis of systematic collection of statistical data, this paper gives a quantitative estimation of the wage level of rural migrant workers in China and its evolution following pro market reforms since 1978. Results indicate that over the past 30 years, the nominal monetary wage of migrant workers maintained a 10% average annual increase. Real wage levels adjusted by the consumer price index (CPI) experienced three stages of evolution: initially, migrant workers earned a higher average monetary salary than formal employees, whereas this situation reversed in later stages.
Key words: wage of rural migrant workers, migration of labor force, China’s labor market

¥0.01加入购物车