Search Results

This book explores the diversity and dynamism of China’s workplaces and of the wider labour market experiences of its workforce. Drawing on the authors’ recent research, it considers a diverse range of issues and types of workplaces. These changes include: the continuing spread of market-oriented human resource management across public and private sector organisations; greater employment rights for workers; local diversity in regulatory control alongside the governmental priority of a ‘harmonious society’; persistent shortages of skilled labour co-existing with vast underemployment amongst the unskilled; uneven access to education and training across regions; and changes in union behaviour and influence. The book highlights under-explored but emerging phenomena such as family-owned firms, the role of private services businesses, and the emergence of employer associations.

The chapters are: Introduction: China’s changing workplace: dynamism, diversity and disparity / Peter Sheldon, Sunghoon Kim, Yiqiong Li and Malcolm Warner; Part one, ‘Putting change in context’, contains: Transition to a socialist market economy: factor markets, management and human resources in China / Malcolm Warner and Grace Lee; Chinese business systems and the challenges of transition / Gordon Redding and Michael Witt; Changing legislative and institutional arrangements facing China’s workplace / Hans Hendrischke; Part two, ‘Emerging dynamics in labor markets’, contains: Change and continuity in China’s urban workforce: recent trends / Beibei Tang; Local labour markets / Yiqiong Li, Peter Sheldon and David Morgan; Education, training and skills / Yiqiong Li, Peter Sheldon and Jian-Min Sun; Skill shortages: where labour supply problems meet employee poaching / Yiqiong Li and Peter Sheldon; Remaking China’s working class: Gongren and Nongmingong / Luigi Tomba; Part three, ‘China’s changing workplace: emerging divergence’, contains: Human resource management and employment relations in state-owned enterprises / Shuming Zhao and Wansi Chen; Foreign invested firms and their human resource management: beyond early transition period / Sunghoon Kim and Sunwook Chung; People management practices in family firms / Youngok Kim, Xiaobei Li and Fei Yi Gao; [Human resource management] HRM and employment in the service industry / Bing Bai and Jian-Min Sun; Part four, ‘Change, divergence and disparity: some consequences’, contains: Institutional conditions for organising decent work in global production networks / Steve Frenkel and Jorg Sydow; Labour market disparities and inequalities / Fang Lee Cooke; Changing Chinese trade unions: a three level analysis / Mingwei Liu, Chunyun Li and Sunghoon Kim; Employer coordination and employer associations / Chang-hee Lee, Peter Sheldon and Yiqiong Li. Show less

This report analyses the intersection between the older persons' care sector and migration. It looks at the experience of migrant workers and the patterns of mobility for older persons' care between countries. It also provides three case studies - China, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) - to better understand how governments have sought to support older persons' care systems and address workforce challenges. The report concludes with recommendations to policymakers in high-income, rapidly ageing countries that are struggling with these issues.

Key messages are that: (1) many high-income countries are facing a rapidly increasing demand for older persons' care, alongside huge workforce shortages, which are directly linked to the sector's low pay, poor working conditions and the undervalued nature of care work; these stem from the feminisation of care work, including paid employment, and the impact of more recent austerity, privatisation and marketisation trends; (2) migrants are essential to the delivery of older persons' care in many high-income countries, often filling gaps left by inadequate formal care systems; they also help to make care affordable for those who would otherwise go without support; however, they are more likely than local workers to encounter low pay and poor working conditions, particularly if working in home care, and if undocumented; (3) few examples of labour migration pathways exist that bring in sufficient numbers of older persons' care workers who are able to work under fair employment conditions; and where pathways have been used, careful design is required to guard against the exploitation of these workers and to ensure continuity of care; and (4) countries need to make the sector more attractive to local workers; however, recruiting migrant workers appears to be the only way to provide safe and high-quality care for older people, both now and in the medium-term as countries age rapidly; and ensuring ethical and sustainable international recruitment should be an immediate policy priority.

Edited excerpt from publisher's website. Show less

This article examines collaborative initiatives individual foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) develop with China's vocational education and training (VET) schools amid localised shortages of skilled workers. It thus focuses on employer initiatives in responding to VET system weaknesses rather than, as is common, those weaknesses. Using Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) as the research site, it provides a local labour market perspective for understanding how firms have redirected their interactions with local VET institutions in an economically advanced area. As a mixed-method study, data collection was through face-to-face interviews with FIE managers and local government officials and firm-level surveys. Employer initiatives take a number of forms and follow diverse motivations. Motivations include firm-focused needs and commitments to improving the system. A firm's duration in SIP explains choices for more, and more demanding collaborations. Furthermore, through their collaborative programmes, the most engaged FIEs reshape those VET schools and also the choices of other local FIEs.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

The Blueprint for sectoral cooperation on skills was launched under the New Skills Agenda for Europe to create a framework for strategic cooperation between stakeholders to improve skills intelligence and address skills shortages. The automotive sector was selected as a pilot, to investigate skills gaps and their potential impact on growth, innovation and competitiveness, mobilise and coordinate key players to build a skills partnership at European level, and roll out the initiative at national level. This study contributes to the Blueprint sectoral skill strategy to support the automotive industry in identifying skills gaps, retaining key competences and acquiring new ones. By identifying key trends in the sector and their effects on skills, analysing the initiatives implemented in Europe and selected third countries, the study draws a picture of the current situation and existing policies focused on up/reskilling in the sector, particularly focusing on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Taking all these elements into account, the study delivers a vision with a set of supporting actions and a roadmap. The vision aims at increasing the awareness of automotive stakeholders concerning existing gaps, challenges and initiatives, helping them in increasing their capacity, filling gaps and remedying mismatches on the automotive labour market.

Published abstract. Show less

This paper examines the labor market conditions in the health and social work industry in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The analysis indicates that while population aging and increased chronic disease burdens have greatly expanded the demand for health and elderly care services, the growth in employment in the health and social work industry has lagged behind other sectors. This limits the supply of high-quality health and elderly care services for the growing population with care needs. To understand the causes of this shortage of health and elderly care workers, the paper explores the labor market conditions in the sector.

The analysis reveals that women constitute most of the health-care workforce in the PRC, and the elderly care workforce is predominately composed of older migrant women with a junior high school education or lower. Data further indicate that the working conditions of health and elderly care workers could improve. A majority of the medical staff surveyed for this study were dissatisfied with their compensation, a third intended to leave their occupation, and a quarter had encountered verbal or physical abuse from patients over the past 6 months. Wages for elderly care workers were also low, and most of the elderly care institutions had difficulty generating sufficient revenue to cover operational costs. These results point to the need for a comprehensive strategy for care provision that aims to provide decent jobs for care workers while making quality care services accessible for all persons with care needs.

Published abstract. Show less