MIGRANT WORKERS VS. URBAN LOCAL WORKERS: EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND EARNINGS DIFFERENTIALS IN URBAN CHINA.

Using a survey data conducted in five large Chinese cities, this paper examines the duality of urban labour markets during the transition in China and decomposes the components of the earnings differentials between migrant workers and urban local workers. The empirical results show that nearly 15.62 per cent of the hourly earnings differentials between migrant workers and urban local workers are due to the interoccupational earnings differentials, while the remaining is caused by intraoccupational earnings differentials. Also, the unexplained portion of the hourly earnings differentials between migrant workers and urban local workers is 55.62 per cent, which can mostly be regarded as discrimination against migrant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]