Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 11, 2023

 

The Structural Transformation of China’s Labor Markets: A Task-Biased Technological Change Perspective

(Abstract)

 

Wang Yongqin and Dong Wen

 

Galvanized by the new technological revolution, China’s labor markets have been undergoing a profound transformation and have shown some new features. In particular, a task perspective has become essential for understanding how technological progress affects China’s labor markets. By constructing measurements for tasks, task intensity and new job creation and carrying out an empirical investigation, we find that following 2010, China’s labor markets have been characterized by job polarization and skewed distribution of new jobs and skill premia, with task-biased technological change being a major driver of structural transformation. On the basis of this task-biased technological change, we extend the traditional skill premium and draw implications for the high-quality development of China’s labor markets in the AI era.