Unemployment in Mainland China: Current Situation and Possible Trends

Abstract

For decades, the word “unemployment” was taboo in the Chinese mainland. In the 1980s, surplus workers from various enterprises were described as “job-awaiting (daiye) people.” However, after Beijing decided to deepen economic reforms in the early 1990s, the growing numbers of surplus workers have forced the state to bring the problem into the open. This paper will analyze the unemployment crunch of the 1990s, which consists of cyclical unemployment, structural unemployment, and frictional unemployment.