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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.

The one-child policy is the only fundamental policy in China that has been kept intact for over three decades, despite the vast socioeconomic changes emerging during this period. While the pressure of population growth still exists, the current control-focused policy has aroused problems and damages that tend to offset its gains. The legitimacy of the policy has been frequently challenged. This article presents a history of the one-child policy in China, challenges to it, and the need for a fundamental change. (Contains 2 figures and 4 footnotes.)

One of the major concerns about the one-child policy is its negative impact on the current and future labor force in China. People have talked about the Lewis Turning Point and the end of demographic dividends. Some of these arguments, however, can be misleading. The working-age population (ages 15 to 59) can be treated as the potential labor force supply. It is true that the continuous decline of China's fertility level over the past 30 years has partially resulted in the recent decline of the proportion of the young labor force. Nevertheless, there is no major change in the total size of the labor force. The author suggests that the shortage of the current Chinese labor force cannot be explained simply by the size of the labor force. The demographic dividend and the demographic debt are actually caused by the same demographic event: fertility decline, but the consequences are shown in different time periods. The author concludes that It is only natural that people respond to an aging population through reforming and improving population policies. However, an aging population is a consequence of both the increase in lifespan and falling fertility, and this process will not be radically reversed by merely adjusting fertility policies. What deserves more attention is an adaptation strategy to this population trend and adjusting or restructuring institutional arrangements and integrating public policies. (Contains 1 figure.)

Research interest in thriving at work has burgeoned over the past decades, but little is known about how human resource (HR) practices affect employees' thriving at work. Drawing upon self‐determination theory and person‐organization fit theory, we developed and tested a moderated mediation model to explain how fun HR practices influence employees' thriving at work. The results of two studies, a scenario experiment (N = 164) and a time‐lagged survey (N = 253), supported our hypotheses. Specifically, the findings revealed that fun HR practices relates positively to employees' thriving at work. Autonomous motivation partially mediates the abovementioned relationship. Furthermore, fun HR practices translate into higher autonomous motivation and subsequent thriving at work for employees with higher preference for workplace fun. Our research contributes to the existing literature by identifying fun HR practices as an antecedent of thriving at work and revealing the psychological mechanisms through which fun HR practices affect employees' thriving at work. The practical implications, limitations, and future research avenues are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of a thriving workforce in sustaining organizational success, prior research pays little attention to how individualized human resource (HR) practices can help individual employees to thrive at work. Drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of conservation of resources theory, we investigate whether, how, and when development idiosyncratic deals (i‐deals) can contribute to individual thriving. We contend that possessing development i‐deals will motivate individuals to engage in approach job crafting, which in turn promotes their experience of thriving at work. We further contend that high‐quality leader–member exchange will enhance the function of development i‐deals in triggering approach job crafting and subsequent thriving experiences. Results from a two‐wave survey involving 278 managers in a pharmaceutical firm in China and a three‐wave survey among 178 managers working in various organizations in the UK support our hypotheses. Our findings provide new insights for practitioners seeking to design customized HR practices to support a thriving workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To empirically investigate the impact of ethical leadership on nurses' moral courage in China and examine the mediating role of psychological empowerment in this relationship. Background: Moral courage is essential for alleviating nurses' moral distress, safeguarding patients' safety and rights, and providing high‐quality care. Previous studies have emphasized the strong relationship between ethical leadership and moral courage; however, little is known about the actual impact of ethical leadership on nurses' moral courage. This study introduces psychological empowerment, sets out to test empirically its role in the relationship between ethical leadership and moral courage, and provides countermeasures and a theoretical basis for cultivating nurses' moral courage. Methods: Between February and May 2023, a questionnaire survey was conducted among 837 nurses from five hospitals in Sichuan Province, southwest China. The three validated self‐report scales, the ethical leadership scale, psychological empowerment scale, and nurses' moral courage scale, were used to collect data. We used IBM SPSS 27.0 for descriptive statistics, univariate analyses, Cronbach's α, and correlations of each variable, modeling a hypothesized model of ethical leadership on moral courage in nurses and testing the internal mechanisms by AMOS 26.0. Results: Ethical leadership significantly positively correlated with psychological empowerment (r = 0.374, p < 0.01), as well as moral courage (r = 0.341, p < 0.01). In addition, psychological empowerment significantly positively correlated with moral courage (r = 0.518, p < 0.01). The structural equation modeling (SEM) shows a satisfactory model fit: χ2 = 2156.36, df = 849, χ2/df = 2.540, root mean square of approximation = 0.043, standard root mean square residual = 0.047, normed fit index = 0.911, Tucker–Lewis index = 0.941, and comparative fit index = 0.944. Ethical leadership directly influenced moral courage (β = 0.135, p = 0.006) and indirectly affected moral courage via psychological empowerment (β = 0.247, p = 0.001). Conclusion: Promoting ethical leadership and psychological empowerment is essential for nurses to promote moral courage. The results of this study illustrate the pivotal role of psychological empowerment in establishing the impact of ethical leadership on nurses' moral courage and the partially mediating part of psychological empowerment in this relationship. Implications for Nursing Management: Nursing managers should understand the importance of moral courage in protecting patients' rights and interests, as well as in maintaining a stable nursing workforce. They should reinforce the positive influence of ethical leadership and embrace an ethical leadership style. In addition, providing relevant training to enhance nurses' psychological empowerment will help cultivate moral courage among them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents alternative unemployment statistics for China, encompassing the extended unemployment rate (U5), which incorporates marginally attached workers, and the nonemployment index (NEI) proposed in recent literature (Hornstein et al. in Econ Q 100(1):1–21). The analysis spans from 1988 to 2021, merging recent data (2012–2018 and 2018–2021) with early estimates (1988–2009). Our findings indicate that both standard and alternative unemployment statistics reveal similar trends in China: a rise in the labor force participation rate and a decline in the unemployment rate since 2012, marking a reversal from the trend before 2009. Additionally, unemployment measures in China align more closely with those of affluent countries from 2007 to 2018 and with less affluent countries from 2018 onwards. Moreover, U5 demonstrates enhanced predictive capabilities for wage dynamics in China's labor market during the recent 2012–2018 period. Lastly, we delve into the discussion of errors in labor market status data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional climate conditions have become a key factor that is exacerbating the process of China's labor spatial mobility. In contrast to previous research based on mixed cross-sectional data and floating population sample selection, this study uses unbalanced panel data from the China Labor Force Dynamic Survey (CLDS) from 2014 to 2018 and a regional temperature dataset to examine the impact of climate change on inter-provincial and municipal labor mobility outflow from the perspective of local household registration, and further investigates regional reallocation and stock effects of labor related to climate change. The findings reveal four relevant results. First, after eliminating the influence bias of individual fixed effects, the labor force outflow effect of climate change across regions is significantly smaller than that found in previous research, at only one-fifth of existing research conclusions. Second, the mechanism analysis shows that temperature can affect labor mobility through individual health, happiness and government environmental regulation. Third, the impact of climate change on labor mobility has significant heterogeneity. Labor flows from underdeveloped regions to developed areas and from the central and western regions to the eastern region, and climate change has a greater impact for workers with higher education levels. In addition, climate change has a greater impact on workers with higher family incomes and family age structures. Fourth, the impact of climate change on labor mobility exhibits temperature-based threshold effects. This study provides a new perspective for understanding the impact of climate change on labor mobility, offering valuable policy support for guiding the rational flow of labor and urban managers' formulation of strategically targeted measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common prosperity is an important goal of China's modernization efforts, and narrowing the income gap among different regions and populations is crucial to achieving common prosperity. The construction of digital infrastructure has significantly boosted productivity and facilitated the diffusion of technology in less developed regions, leading to notable changes in labor employment and the income gap, which aligns with the goal of common prosperity. This paper explores the mechanism through which digital infrastructure influences common prosperity with a focus on employment, using panel data from 30 provinces in China between 2011 and 2021 for an empirical test. The research finds that digital infrastructure significantly promotes common prosperity. By expanding employment and increasing labor remuneration, the influence of digital infrastructure on common prosperity exhibits regional heterogeneity and a nonlinear threshold effect. The research suggests that the government should enhance investment in and construction of digital infrastructure, reduce the digital divide through policy support in rural areas, promote digital employment and skills training, and encourage industrial integration and enterprise participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the perspective of configuration, this paper takes the region of manufacturing efficiency as the explanatory variable, selects eight antecedent conditions, and applies fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to study the paths and methods of improving manufacturing emission efficiency. The results of the study show that there are two configuration paths of carbon emission efficiency in manufacturing industry, namely, research frontier and technological innovation level and labour force structure, R&D investment, science and technology innovation level, manufacturing output value, and environmental regulation synergistic path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ensuring that the scale and hierarchical structure of health human resources are rational, and that medical services are efficient and fair, is an important task of practical significance. On this basis, examining the impact of health human resources on the level of medical services presents a new and formidable challenge. This study aims to delve into how the scale and hierarchical structure of health human resources in China's four major economic regions affect the fairness and efficiency of medical services, and to identify optimization strategies. Methods: This study utilizes provincial panel data from China's four major economic regions spanning the years 2009 to 2021. Initially, it provides a statistical description of the current state of health human resources and the level of medical services. Subsequently, it employs a fixed-effects model to analyze the impact of the scale and hierarchical structure of health human resources, as well as their interactive effects, on the fairness and efficiency of medical services, and discusses the interactive mechanisms between medical service fairness and medical service efficiency. Furthermore, after conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the level of medical services using the entropy weight method, it explores the regional heterogeneity and temporal dynamics in the influence of the scale and hierarchical structure of health human resources on the level of medical services. Finally, the study examines the scientific validity and rationality of the research findings through various robustness checks, including the substitution of research variables and models. Results: The study found that the scale of health human resources has a promoting effect on the equity of medical services (β ≤ 0.643, p ≤ 0.01), but exhibits an inhibitory effect on the efficiency of medical services (β ≥ -0.079, p ≤ 0.1); the hierarchical structure of health human resources shows a positive impact on both the equity and efficiency of medical services (βequity ≤ 0.160, p ≤ 0.01; βefficiency ≤ 0.341, p ≤ 0.05); at the same time, the results indicate that the interactive effect of the scale and hierarchical structure of health human resources promotes equity in medical services (β = 0.067, p ≤ 0.01), but restricts the efficiency of medical services (β ≥ -0.039, p ≤ 0.01); the mechanism by which health human resources affect the level of medical services in China's western and northeastern regions is more pronounced than in the central and eastern regions; after the implementation of the "Healthy China 2030" Planning Outline, the role of health human resources in the level of medical services has been strengthened; in the robustness tests, the model remains robust after replacing the core explanatory variables, with R2 maintained between 0.869 and 0.972, and the dynamic GMM model test shows a significant second-order lag in the level of medical services (βequity ≤ 0.149, p ≤ 0.01; βefficiency ≤ 0.461, p ≤ 0.01); the channel test results prove that managerial personnel and other technical personnel are key pathways in regulating the impact of medical staff on the level of medical services. Conclusion: This study provides an in-depth analysis of the impact of health human resources on the level of medical services, revealing that both the scale and hierarchical structure of health human resources significantly affect the equity and efficiency of medical services. Furthermore, the influence of health human resources on the level of medical services exhibits regional heterogeneity and temporal characteristics. Robustness tests ensure the scientific validity and robustness of the research conclusions. This provides effective references for optimizing the allocation of health human resources and improving the level of medical services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The rapid aging of the labor force has serious implications for socioeconomic development and poses challenges to food sustainability. Existing studies have focused on the impact of labor force aging on land productivity, but little attention has been paid to the comprehensive capacity of agricultural production, namely the total factor productivity of agriculture. Methods: We estimate the impact of labor force aging on total factor productivity in agriculture using data from 170,506 sample farm households from the National Fixed Point Survey data from 2003 to 2020. We estimate the results using a panel fixed effects approach and mitigate the endogeneity problem using an instrumental variables approach to ensure the robustness of the estimates. Results and discussion: The results show that labor force aging has an adverse effect on the agricultural total factor productivity of farm households and remains robust after addressing endogeneity and substituting explanatory variables. The aging effect shows significant heterogeneity across different food functional areas with different types of farm households. The negative impact of labor force aging on total factor productivity in agriculture is mainly concentrated in the main grain-production and grain-producing and marketingbalanced areas. We also find that the negative impact of labor force aging is more significant among large-scale farmers. The mechanism analysis finds that the aging of the labor force adversely affects the agricultural total factor productivity by inhibiting technological progress and reducing the efficiency of agricultural resource allocation. These insights, when considered in the light of global trends towards agricultural labor aging, suggest that policy interventions aimed at promoting technological adoption, enhancing resource allocation efficiency, and supporting the transitioning of older farmers may hold promise for maintaining food sustainability and addressing the challenges posed by an aging agricultural workforce in numerous developing nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rate of aging population and declining fertility are very rapid. The role of demographic transition in the development of the manufacturing industry remains controversial. We construct a heterogeneous DSGE model that includes demographic dividends to simulate and analyze the impact of demographic transition on the expansion and upgrading of manufacturing industry. Besides, we conduct empirical research using China's provincial-level panel data from 2003 to 2020. The results reveal that, first, the recession of the first demographic dividend characterized by a decrease in labor supply has suppressed the expansion of manufacturing scale, but promoted structural upgrading; second, the second demographic dividend can promote the growth of output in various manufacturing industries, especially advanced manufacturing; third, receiving the second demographic dividend can offset the negative effect from recession of the first demographic dividend on manufacturing industry. However, the negative impact currently suffered by China's manufacturing industry cannot be fully compensated for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a microhistory of Dongfang Arsenal, a Small Third Front project in Beijing, using archival sources, gazetteers, memoirs compiled by former workers, and oral history. It focuses on how the arsenal's former workers engaged with socialist modernity and tangibly experienced the changing relationship between China and the outside world. It examines the military-industrial complex as a physical micro-space for employment, political mobilisation, and later a collective memory site. Built upon existing studies of the Third Front and emerging research on negotiated state power in socialist enterprises, the article demonstrates how the Third Front's internally stratified industrial labour force creatively navigated the physical and institutional urban-rural divide by employing collective bargaining power. It also offers an insight into how an industrial, close-knit community and the society related to it experienced the Cultural Revolution. Additionally, it discusses the Front employees' experience and the arsenal's struggle for survival during the transition between various socio-economic regimes, bringing together the history of Maoist revolutionary modernisation and post-Maoist reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessments of farmer satisfaction can be a crucial tool for effectively implementing an appropriate ecological compensation policy. This study evaluates the effectiveness of an ecological compensation policy for crop rotation in China's black soil regions from the perspective of farmer satisfaction. Specifically, utilizing an improved entropy TOPSIS, logistic regression, and the obstacle degree model, this empirical study analyzes the performance of the ecological compensation policy for crop rotation in black soil regions and identifies barriers in Heilongjiang Province. The findings indicate that gender significantly and positively affects outcomes at the 10% level, while age has a notable influence at the 5% level. Additionally, the family labor force and the quality of cultivated land, both significant at the 5% level with negative coefficients, suggest a diminished likelihood of farmers participating in these ecological compensation projects. The family's source of income, significantly influential at the 1% level, also indicates a lower propensity among farmers to engage. Performance analysis reveals that the values for variables of satisfaction with the project's publicity (A1), satisfaction with the protection of farmers' rights and interest (A3), overall satisfaction with the effectiveness of the project (B1), satisfaction with ecological compensation methods (B3), and satisfaction with household income after the implementation of the project (C1) are above the average. In contrast, values for variables of satisfaction with the supervision and management (A2), satisfaction with the payment of ecological compensation funds (A4), satisfaction level with black soil rotation ecological compensation standards (B2), satisfaction with the welfare level of family life after the implementation of the project (C2), and satisfaction with farmers' proactive participation in the project (D1) fall below the average of 3.03. Therefore, this study provides a comprehensive framework for assessing the effectiveness of the ecological compensation policy for crop rotation in China's black soil regions and offers recommendations for enhancing its performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant literature has generated limited understanding of whether and how sustainable human resource management (HRM) will lead to better and more sustainable outcomes, such as enhanced employee well‐being and improved employee performance. Moving toward common good values and drawing on the job demands‐resources model, this study theorizes and tests the relationships among sustainable HRM practices, employee resilience, work engagement, and employee performance. The empirical results of a multilevel and multisource study in the Chinese context provide supporting evidence for our theoretical model. The findings demonstrate that sustainable HRM practices positively affect employee resilience, and lead to a high level of work engagement among employees. Employee resilience also has an indirect effect on employee performance through work engagement. This study, with its theoretical and practical implications, reveals a serial mediation mechanism through which sustainable HRM practices contribute to both employee well‐being and employee performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2019 to study the impact of ESG performance on labour investment efficiency under the new demographic trend. The results show that good ESG performance improves labour investment efficiency in China. Fast population ageing, the gradual balance of gender structure, and the improvement of education levels in the Chinese workforce have promoted the positive impact of ESG performance on labour investment efficiency in the past decade. We further find ESG significantly impacts both labour over investment and under investment. Good ESG performance can not only alleviate the waste of human capital but also mitigate the problem of labour shortage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing interest in the impact of climate change on agricultural labor supply in China, rigorous empirical evidence for this issue is insufficient. This potentially important channel through which climate change may affect agricultural labor supply has not received attention. Using a panel survey data of 100 administrative villages and 2977 farmers in China, we find that temperature and precipitation do affect farmers' labor allocation, 1°C increase from the current average temperature will reduce agricultural labor supply by 0.252%, and 1mm increase from the current average rainfall will reduce agricultural labor supply by 0.001%. Climate change also leads to the decline of net agricultural income, which creates distorted incentives for households to over-supply labor to non-agriculture. Moreover, farmers with relatively lower risk tolerance preferred to reduce the current supply of agricultural labor when net agricultural income is projected to decrease under climate change scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact on polluting emissions as a result of manufacturing industries in China offering services as well as products. We merge detailed firm-level statistics covering 2000 to 2011, and use two-way linear fixed effects regression to control for firm and year heterogeneities and a host of control variables. The empirical results show that manufacturing servitization significantly reduces the emission intensity of firms. This effect is achieved by improving the total factor productivity of firms, optimizing the efficiency of energy use, and increasing the share of the highly-skilled labour force. Moreover, the emission reduction effect of manufacturing servitization is more profound in the eastern and central regions, pollution-intensive industries, non-state-owned firms, and processing trade firms. In addition, our extended analysis shows that the emission reduction effects of manufacturing servitization can be strengthened through trade liberalization and cohort study. The major policy implication is that governments should undertake industrial policies that reinforce the positive effects of manufacturing servitization in order to achieve win-win outcomes in manufacturing upgrading and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the employment experiences of care leavers in China, addressing a gap in understanding their transition into the workforce. Through qualitative interviews with 19 participants, five distinct work pathways were identified: (i) placement approach – typical, (ii) placement approach – typical plus, (iii) self-job-searching approach – typical, (iv) self-job-searching approach – typical plus, and (v) self-job-searching approach – typical ‘on the way.’ The findings highlight care leavers’ proactive roles in navigating their employment journeys, yet also reveal challenges such as educational setbacks, insufficient work skills, lack of support, and societal discrimination, particularly against those with physical impairments. Enhanced support systems are essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The COVID-19 pandemic brings more disadvantages to female workers, creating a "she-cession". • Both demand and supply forces drive deteriorated gender inequalities in the labor market. • We use a unique dataset of high-frequency online job postings and job applications between 2018 and 2022. • The "she-cession" in China worsens in the medium run, as more females are competing for fewer jobs in the post-lockdown period. • Fewer job opportunities in contact-intensive industries, unequal intra-household division of childcare responsibilities, and decreases in family savings all contribute to these patterns. We investigate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on labor market gender differences using a unique dataset of job postings and job applicants in China. We find a "she-cession" in both the national lockdown period (the short run) and afterward (the medium run). Compared to the pre-COVID level, job postings in female (male) dominated industries on average decreased by 38.87 % (37.62 %) and 30.93 % (24.32 %) in the short and medium run, respectively, demonstrating a persistently widening gender gap in labor demand. On the labor supply side, the number of female (male) job applicants decreased by 30.28 % (27.04 %) in the short run but increased by 20.83 % (17.62 %) in the medium run, showing that females search for jobs more actively than males did when the national lockdown was lifted. Hence, the she-cession in China becomes more severe in the post-lockdown period, as more females are competing for fewer available positions. Reduced job openings in contact-intensive industries, unequal intra-household division of childcare responsibilities, and decreases in family savings all contribute to these patterns. Our results have general implications for understanding labor market gender differences in public health crises and economic downturns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the implementation of the three-child policy and delayed retirement policy, the conflicts between childcare responsibility and mothers' labor supply in China have increased dramatically. The present study utilized data from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies to investigate the impacts of grandparental childcare on the labor supply of mothers with children aged 0–6 years. The results of the Probit model and Tobit model indicated that grandparental childcare could significantly increase mother's labor force participation rate and extend their weekly working hours. The relation of grandparental childcare to mothers' labor force participation in one-child families was stronger compared with multi-child families. However, its relation to mothers' working hours in one-child families was smaller than that in multi-child families. Furthermore, the effect of grandparental childcare on mothers' labor supply was more pronounced when children were younger, particularly for those with children aged 0–2 years. The findings highlight the important role of grandparental childcare and have several implications for family support policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Realizing environmental protection and employment stability when facing strict environmental regulations is an essential issue of concern for many developing countries, including China. Based on a dataset of Chinese listed companies and a dataset of Chinese individual labor-force surveys, this paper uses an estimation technique pairing propensity score matching with a difference-in-differences estimator to examine the impact of the new Environmental Protection Law (EPL) on the supply and demand of labor at the micro level and the reallocation effect of interindustry labor at the macro level. The results show that the new EPL generated employment losses at the micro level. The policy reduces firms' labor demand by lowering firms' output and total investment expenditures and, in the process, does not stimulate firms' innovative behavior. Moreover, implementing the new EPL reduces the wage income of workers, which in turn reduces the labor supply. Conversely, at the macro level, the new EPL promotes the transfer of labor from polluting to cleaner industries, realizes the reallocation of labor between industries, and thus promotes the transformation and upgrading of regional industrial structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With more and more loss caused by forest biological disasters (FBDs) in China, forest farmers, as one of the most important stakeholders, are participating in the control. In this study, the ordinary least squares model, simultaneous equation model, and propensity score matching method were used with the data from 818 surveys conducted in the typical FBD outbreak provinces, to reveal the FBD control behaviors of forest farmers and their differences between western and eastern regions of China. The results indicated the following. (1) Household factors: forest farmers could timely take control measures. An increase of 1 ha in the area of occurrence would increase the control measures by 3.26 ha. However, the control measures can only reduce 50% of the economic loss caused by FBDs and cannot effectively control the spread trend of FBDs. There are issues, including an insufficient and old labor force, insufficient technology support, and low consciousness of ecology protection. (2) External factors: forest farmers would increase control when the temperature rises, and reduce control when rainfall increases. After village committees unify organizing the control, their participation enthusiasm would increase, which would have a substitution relationship with the household investment. (3) Regional difference: the eastern region of China has higher figures than the western in terms of outbreak area, economic losses, control measures, and pesticide cost. If the western forest farmers have the control funds as the eastern forest farmers have, and the eastern forest farmers have the control intensity as the western forest farmers have, the overall FBD control effect would be better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the prevalence of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) as an adaptive strategy for the effective management of an increasingly diverse workforce, the drivers of these customized work arrangements and why they enhance mutuality in the employment relationship are not well understood. Drawing on an integration of social cognitive theory and resource-based perspective, we address these interrelated questions by proposing and examining a moderated mediation model of antecedents and outcomes of task and career i-deals. Multi-source and multi-wave data obtained from supervisors and employees in service and manufacturing organizations were used to test our hypothesized relationships. Results of multilevel path analysis reveal that both employee approach motive and supervisor political skill relate to i-deals. Furthermore, high-commitment HR system moderates the relationship between supervisor political skill (but not employee approach motive) and i-deals such that this relationship is stronger when high-commitment HR system is high but not low. Additionally, i-deals relate to service creativity but indirectly through personal skill development suggesting a potential human capital (relative to the predominantly motivational) explanation of the performance implications of i-deals. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding and enhancing the effectiveness of negotiating and implementing i-deals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high cost of medical care and its association with poverty have given rise to a growing concern for developing countries, but how insurance plans affect household income and alleviate poverty has been rarely discussed. This study aims to bridge this research gap by examining a medical insurance reform in China, a major program of the targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) strategy, which offers higher reimbursement rates and lower medical deductibles for low‐income households. We use an administrative data set on impoverished people in a Chinese county to examine how exogenous changes in the medical insurance system affect the income structure of low‐income households. We apply a two‐part model to a Difference‐in‐Differences framework, with households that received reimbursement of the insurance reform as the treatment group and others as the control group. Our results imply that the medical insurance reform could increase the overall household income diversity. The mechanism analysis suggests that the medical insurance reform improves the health conditions of patients and encourages caregivers to engage more in off‐farm work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food security is a goal and means of global sustainable development, and an important component of China's national security. Based on grain production data from 2000 to 2020, 31 provinces (cities, autonomous regions) in China were used as research units to analyze the spatiotemporal differences and driving forces of grain production in China using a combination of local correlation index, center of gravity transfer model, and geographic detector. The results as follows, ① During the research period, China's total grain production showed a decrease followed by an increase, and the yield per unit area of grain showed an increasing trend. Corn has become the "largest staple food" in China; ② During the research period, the focus of China's grain production continued to shift northward, with Heilongjiang, Henan and Shandong provinces becoming the main grain production areas, with Henan being the province where China's grain production center was located. Among the factors affecting grain yield, the effective irrigation area (0.971) has the strongest explanatory power. Finally, countermeasures and suggestions were proposed from five aspects, stabilizing grain production, reducing grain inventory pressure, implementing regional grain security responsibilities, improving grain circulation efficiency, promoting high-quality grain engineering construction, adjusting grain production structure, strictly implementing farmland protection responsibilities, scientifically applying pesticides, fertilizers and other production materials, emphasizing agricultural infrastructure construction and stabilizing the number of agricultural labor force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism efficiency has become an important role in promoting tourism competitiveness and driving sustainable development. It is particularly important to identify and agnalyze the factors and mechanisms that affect efficiency. This paper firstly evaluates the tourism efficiency of 11 coastal provinces regions in China from 2010 to 2020 by using the DEA-BBC model that includes undesirable outputs. After that, it investigates the internal driving mechanism of the efficiency change through the Malmquist index and its decomposition. Finally, it analyzes the external influencing elements of tourist efficiency by the Tobit model. The results show that: (1) Although the average value of the tourism efficiency was changed from 0.727 to 0.707, it does not achieve the target. Its trend shows fluctuating from 2010–2020, which indicates that the tourism efficiency of most provincial regions is not optimal. The main factor that restricts tourism efficiency is scale efficiency. (2) By analyzing the dynamic trend, it is found that the average increase of technical efficiency is 14.0%, the average increase of technical change is 9.5%, and the average increase of MI index is 25.4%. It indicates that the overall tourism efficiency of 11 coastal provinces region in China is on the rise. (3) The spatial difference of tourism efficiency is significant, but there is no obvious spatial correlation. (4) The influencing factors of tourism efficiency are consumer demand, industrial structure, labor force and urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We utilize a comprehensive individual panel dataset from China and employ an event study approach to investigate the influence of childbirth on gender disparities across various labor market outcomes, emphasizing the role of gender norms in shaping the child penalty. Our findings show a pronounced decline in individual earnings, labor force participation and working hours for women after childbirth, though labor force participation returns to pre-childbirth level in the long term. Such trends are not observed among men. These gender differentiated outcomes are driven by a key factor: gender norms, specifically women's and their husbands' views toward gender roles. Parents' or in-laws' views play a smaller role. Women suffer a larger child penalty in individual earnings if they or their spouses hold traditional views compared to those who, or whose spouses, hold more egalitarian views. Potential channels are that traditional views may predispose mothers to focus more on household activities and/or engage in informal jobs that are more flexible and family friendly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-employment is a field of special importance to developing countries in view of its positive role on socio-economic development. This study exploits a unique nationally representative database using the 1949–1985 China Demographic Data, the 2016 China Labour Force Dynamic Survey, and the 1959–1999 China Drought Disaster Data. Through a difference-in-differences estimation, we reveal that the Great Chinese Famine bear significantly upon individuals' self-employment decisions. Specifically, a 1% increase in famine intensity results in a 3.89% and 2.31% decrease in the probability of self-employment and self-employed entrepreneurs entering the agricultural sector, respectively. Using rainfall as an instrument, we further show that the documented relationship is causal. Overall, we provide strong empirical evidence that famine exposure significantly affects one's self-employment decisions, and can help design policies aiming to promote self-employment and the development of small businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses detailed population statistics and analyzes labor participation rates in China from the perspectives of education and retirement. It presents different hypothetical scenarios and predicts future labor participation rates using queue factors. The results indicate that under the baseline scenario, the overall labor participation rate (51.43%) is projected to significantly decrease by 2060 compared to 2020 (73.76%). The lock-in effect of education leads to a declining participation rate for the 15–24 age group, which persists until approximately the age of 50. Generally, women have higher labor participation rates than men prior to retirement. In the education-centered hypothetical scenario, the quantity impact of educational expansion is evident. Although the relative impact of additional education diminishes toward the end of working life (60–74) compared to the entire working life (15–74). The improvement in the labor market due to educational reform is sustainable across all scenarios. In the retirement-centered hypothetical scenario, reducing retirement rates across age groups increases labor force participation, but this improvement mainly focuses on those under the age of 70 and is not sustained. Thus, delaying retirement policies is only effective in the short term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debris flow hazards seriously threaten the safety and sustainable development of mountainous areas. Numerous debris flow mitigation measures have been implemented worldwide; however, a comprehensive assessment of the specific disaster reduction effects of these measures and their economic, social and ecological benefits is yet to be performed. The western region of Sichuan Province frequently suffers from geohazards such as debris flow, and the government has adopted many mitigation measures. This study assessed the benefits of debris flow mitigation measures and identified the key influencing factors via a field-based study conducted in 81 villages in western Sichuan province, China. A framework for the evaluation of the benefits of rural debris flow mitigation measures was constructed and quantitatively evaluated using a survey. Snowball sampling was performed to recruit 81 village leaders and 468 farmers. The results showed that management and engineering measures were the main methods used to mitigate debris flow; ecological measures were auxiliary. The average satisfaction scores of farmers for these three types of measures were 4.07, 3.90, and 3.56, respectively (as measured on a five-point Likert scale). In contrast, in terms of the benefits of these mitigation measures, only a small proportion of villages (11.11%) obtained a high level of comprehensive benefits from the debris flow mitigation measures, while the majority (88.89%) received medium to low-level benefits. To improve this situation, we further studied and found that the main factors that restricted villages from achieving high-level comprehensive benefits were the unpredictable nature of debris flows, labour force outflow and remoteness. Effective control measures, a good economic environment and strong government assistance were reported as crucial factors for improving these comprehensive benefits. This study provides socio-scientific references for decision-making on rural debris flow mitigation measures while keeping villages at the centre of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analysed the effects of flush toilet use on health and non‐health expenditures incurred by rural Chinese. The instrumental‐variable‐based Tobit and endogenous treatment regression models were used to analyse the 2016 China Labour Force Dynamics Survey data while addressing the selection bias inherent in flush toilet use. The results showed that by improving rural residents' physical and mental health, flush toilet use reduced per capita health expenditure while increasing non‐health expenditure. Furthermore, using flush toilets had positive spillover effects, reducing the health expenditures of even those who did not use them. Factors affecting flush toilet use were also analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of the rise in Chinese import competition on the Australian labour market from 1991 to 2007. Using the data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force Survey, I find three main results. First, the Chinese import competition generates net job gains for the economy at both aggregate and sectoral levels. The manufacturing and service sectors both experience a growth in employment due to the movements of workers between and within industries. Second, the job losses in manufacturing industries are accompanied by expansions in services industries. The Chinese import exposure reorganises the job allocations from manufacturing to services. Third, the industrial shifts and skill‐biased technical change caused by the Chinese imports bring about job polarisation. Estimates show evidence of job concentration on low‐skilled and high‐skilled workers while also a weakening focus on middle‐skilled occupations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the data of Chinese A-share listed companies to study whether enterprise digital transformation will affect the labor income share. The research results show that enterprise digital transformation greatly increasing the labor income share, and our inferences unchanged after a wide battery of robustness tests. Further studies show that the mechanism of digital transformation to increase labor income share is to expand the scale of employment and increase the proportion of highly skilled labor in the total labor force. Subsample study shows that digital transformation only raises the labor income share of larger scale and higher competitive position enterprises. The research can provide policy references for developing digital economy and improving development quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of information explosion, employers' information is often disclosed to employees and potential applicants from multiple channels and angles, which are usually combinations of positive and negative signals. How do such uncoordinated brand signals affect the attractiveness of an organization? Building on micro‐corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature and three studies, we found that when potential employees perceived imbalanced brand signals of CSR and corporate ability, the positive impact of CSR on organizational attractiveness was strengthened when the company was weaker in its corporate ability. When they perceived conflicting brand signals of corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) and corporate ability, the negative impact of CSiR on organizational attractiveness was strengthened when the company was stronger in its corporate ability. Supplementary analyses also demonstrated a significant three‐way interaction among CSR, CSiR, and corporate ability. When such conflicting brand signals were presented, CSR weakened CSiR's negative impact when corporate ability was stronger. However, when corporate ability was weaker, CSR strengthened the negative impact of CSiR on organizational attractiveness. Our study offers guidance for companies with mixed employer brand signals and suggests enhancing applicant attraction via synergy among a company's public relations, human resources, and marketing functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the prevalence of information technology represented by ChatGPT has aroused extensive discussions. Does the adoption of information technology lead to massive regional unemployment? It is a crucial and unresolved issue for the government, enterprise employees, and researchers. Combining the 2005–2020 panel and the smart city (SC) construction policy in China, this article employs the difference in differences (DID) method to study the impact of informatization construction on labour spatial allocation. We found that informatization construction significantly attracted labour and improved labour spatial allocation. After the SC construction policy's implementation, compared with non-SCs, the average increase of SC pilots in the labour force is about 0.78 million people. Besides, stimulating economic growth, improving the environment, and enhancing public services are the mechanisms of the SC construction policy on labour spatial allocation. Furthermore, this policy effect has heterogeneous industry department and category characteristics. The Tertiary and secondary industry department receives a more significant impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare the economic and environmental performances of India and China over the past decade against the Euro Area, Japan, and the USA. India has emerged as the world’s fastest growing large economy, but closer scrutiny suggests this impressive economic performance derives largely from structural factors such as labor force growth and the Balassa-Samuelson effect. Indeed, notwithstanding its superior level of economic development relative to India, China still posts stronger economic gains from investment and total factor productivity growth. While the two economies have grown markedly faster than the three developed economies against which we compare them, both Indian and Chinese growth has come with huge increases in greenhouse gas emissions. Our findings underscore the importance of Chinese and Indian participation in efforts to avoid the more dire impacts of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarly discussions of the consequences of the on-demand economy on work mainly focus on precarity. Using a case study of Didi Chuxing, this article moves beyond this conventional approach to highlight coercion as a striking feature of labor relations in China's ride-hailing industry. Drawing upon the conceptual tool of neo-bondage, this article foregrounds the central role played by forced labor in securing a cheap and docile work force during Didi's rapid market expansion. This article advances the existing literature in two ways. First, it highlights the need for a more robust analysis of the productive forces in the on-demand economy. Second, it argues that the on-demand economy not only represents an intensification of the ongoing trend toward precarity, but also an extension of forced labor regimes from electronic assembly lines to the service industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The labor force constitutes a paramount factor of production in the realm of business operations. In the past, China’s abundant labor force significantly boosted productivity for firms. However, as the demographic dividend gradually wanes, concerns have arisen regarding a scarcity of labor force, exacerbating worries about rising labor costs. Therefore, focusing on enhancing firms’ labor investment efficiency becomes pivotal. Using a sample of A-stock listed firms in China from 2013 to 2020, we examine the impact of customer concentration on the labor investment efficiency of supplier firms. Prior literature provides mixed results regarding the effect of concentrated customers. They can act as a governance mechanism for reducing agency problems, thus, increasing investment efficiency. Conversely, agency problems are aggravated in suppliers with concentrated customers, consequently, reducing investment efficiency. Our results suggest that customer concentration reduces labor investment efficiency, and this effect is more pronounced when customers possess high bargaining power. Additionally, the mechanism analysis reveal that customer concentration leads to less accurate information disclosure, higher operating risk, and an incentive to “empire building”, reducing labor investment efficiency. The cross-sectional analysis reveals that customer concentration results in both over- and under-investment in labor, thereby reducing investment efficiency. In addition, we employ augmented models to rule out the possibility of a U-shaped relationship between customer concentration and labor investment efficiency. Furthermore, we adopt the instrumental variables approach as well as a two-stage regression model to address potential endogeneity concerns and mitigate the omitted variable concern. Our results hold after the robustness tests and endogeneity tests. The findings of this paper imply that firms should strategically diversify their customer bases, thereby reducing their reliance on a few large customers. Simultaneously, governments should actively encourage firms to broaden their customer base. It can help enhance labor investment efficiency by spreading the risks associated with customer concentration. Moreover, it is crucial to acknowledge that substantial customer bargaining power can negatively impact supplier firms. Thus, policymakers should promote antitrust regulations and fair trade practices to mitigate the high bargaining power of large customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural‒urban migration is accompanied by urbanization in China, and its effect on individual well-being has received much scholarly attention. However, research on whether and how rural‒urban migration affects rural migrants' health is still lacking. Using nationally representative data from three waves of the China Labor Force Dynamic Survey, this research investigates the impact of rural‒urban migration on the health of rural migrants and its potential mechanisms. We find that controlling for the endogeneity issue, rural‒urban migration has a negative impact on rural migrants' health, lowering their self-rated health (SRH) and increasing their probability of illness. Analyses of potential mechanisms show that subjective social status is crucial in explaining the negative effects of rural‒urban migration on SRH and illness. To better understand the health deterioration of rural‒urban migrants, the local social and cultural contexts in China should be considered so that targeted measures can be implemented to promote migrants' health more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population aging is discreetly reshaping the dynamics of social demand and labor supply, introducing potential turbulence to global carbon emissions. Understanding the impact of aging on carbon emissions is imperative for steering the next phase of sustainable development. This study, focusing on China, the world's largest carbon emitter, delved into the intricacies of how population aging influences carbon emissions using a dynamic panel threshold model and a mediated effects model. Geographic heterogeneity within China was also considered. On the one hand, this study incorporated three consumer-side intermediation mechanisms: energy consumption, residential consumption and medical consumption. It was found that the positive driving effect of consumption-side variables on carbon emissions was characterized by an inverted "U"-shaped change in China's highly aging regions, while an asymptotic upward trend of 7.65% was observed in regions with moderate and low aging. On the other hand, this study scrutinized three supply-side mediating mechanisms: industrial structure, R&D innovation and labor supply. The mechanism of supply-side variables on carbon emissions exhibited a shift from robustly positive driving to more nuanced weak positive driving or even negative inhibiting in highly aging regions, while inhibiting effects dominated in regions with moderate and low aging. This study offers a dual perspective encompassing both the production and consumption sides, which lays a foundation for exploring the internal mechanism of aging on carbon emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the new normal period, the trend changes and adjustments of the environment such as international trade, production capacity, labor supply and resource constraints have put forward new requirements for China's industrial development, which have brought new challenges and given new opportunities. In the new normal stage where economic growth continues to decline, industrial growth is still an important support for economic growth. The advancement of industrial technology is the main driving force for improving the total factor productivity of the industrial industry. Therefore, the most important thing to promote industrial growth is to upgrade the level of industrial technology. In response to the above-mentioned problems, this paper analyzed the relationship between industrial technology and industrial output in the new normal environment by using the BP neural network (BPNN) algorithm. The connection between the two has been found, which provided a clear direction for the functional adjustment of economic law. Experimental studies have shown that there is a positive relationship between industrial technological progress and industrial output. When other conditions are the same, and when the non-new normal is selected, industrial output increases by about 0.36% for every 1% increase in industrial technological progress. When choosing to be in the new normal, industrial technological progress has a higher impact on industrial output. For every 1% increase in technological progress, industrial output increases by about 0.39%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact the number of child(ren) and the age of child(ren) on the participation in the labour force by married women in China. Using logistic regression models with the latest Chinese Family Panel Studies data, results show that: (1) the odds of LFP (Labour Force Participation) has decreased by 20.7 per cent for married women with one child and 37.7 per cent for women with two or more children compared with those without any child; (2) the impact of childbearing on LFP is stronger for women who are highly educated or aged 30–39; (3) the age of child(ren) is positively correlated with the mother’s labour participation, with a bigger effect for women coming from rural areas (i.e. those with an agricultural hukou), for women aged below 30, and for highly educated women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the substitution elasticity of capital on the labour force in the context of the development of intellectualization. Given the substitution of capital for labour, China's benchmark listed logistics companies are compared with an American company to discuss the evolution of capital – labour substitution. A large-scale intellectualization process began in 2017, and based on a variable elasticity of substitution, this paper creates an econometric model of substitution elasticity between capital and labour and its evolution between 2017 and 2021. The American logistics company UPS maintains a relatively high level of substitution elasticity, and Chinese logistics companies are quickly catching up. The substitution elasticity of capital on labour in Chinese enterprises trends upward year after year. In 2021, the capital – labour substitution elasticity of logistics enterprises in both countries showed considerable growth. The calculation model of substitution elasticity presented in this paper can be extended to different regions and industries to measure intelligent development levels and the relationship between capital and the labour force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Feminization of health workforce has been globally documented, but it has not been investigated in China. This study aims to analyze changes in the gendered composition of health workforce and explore the trend in different types of health workforce, health organizations and majors within China's health system. Methods: The data were collected from China Health Statistical Yearbook from 2002 to 2020. We focused on health professionals including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists in health organizations. Trend analysis was employed to examine the change in the ratio of female health workforce over 18 years. The estimated average annual percent change (AAPC) was estimated, and the reciprocals of variances for the female ratios were used as weights. Results: In China, health professionals increased from 4.7 million in 2002 to 10.68 million in 2020. Health professionals per 1000 population increased from 3.41 in 2002 to 7.57 in 2020. The ratio of female health professionals significantly increased from 63.85% in 2002 to 72.4% in 2020 (AAPC = 1.04%, 95% CI 0.96–1.11%, P < 0.001). Female doctors and pharmacists increased 4.7 and 7.9 percentage points from 2002 to 2020. Female health workers at township health centers, village clinics, centers for disease control and prevention had higher annual increase rate (AAPC = 1.67%, 2.25% and 1.33%, respectively) than those at hospital (0.70%) and community health center (0.5%). Female doctors in traditional Chinese medicine, dentistry and public health had higher annual increase rate (AAPC = 1.82%, 1.53% and 1.91%, respectively) than female clinical doctor (0.64%). Conclusions: More women are participating in the healthcare sector in China. However, socially lower-ranked positions have been feminizing faster, which could be due to the inherent and structural gender norms restricting women's career. More collective and comprehensive system-level actions will be needed to foster a gender-equitable environment for health workforce at all levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]