LABOR MARKET LIBERALIZATION, EMPLOYMENT AND GENDER IN RURAL CHINA

The major objective of this paper is to discuss the development of rural labor markets in China during the past two decades and understand how it has affected women. Using household survey data that we collected in 2001, we examine the role of women in labor markets by examining employment and migration trends and changes in wages. According to the data of our nearly national representative sample, we find that there has been a sharp overall increase in off-farm participation, most of the increase has been driven by young migrants, and women, especially those in the youngest cohorts, have participated at rates equaling or surpassing those of their male counterparts. We also find that the wages of women have not been adversely affected by the emergence of liberalized labor markets and that when women, mostly middle-aged and older ones, are left in charge of farm work, the productivity of crop production does not fall