The Routledge Companion to Employment Relations

25

The transformation of employment relations in contemporary China¹

Chris King-Chi Chan and Yunbing He

Introduction

It has been nearly four decades since the reform and open-door policy was introduced in China in 1978. Although China has remained an authoritarian state politically, its economy and society have experienced dramatic changes over this period. China is now the world’s second largest economy in terms of GDP, with a workforce of 774.5 million in 2015 (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2016). Statistics show remarkable changes in China’s pattern of employment. In 1978, China’s rural economy was dominant, with 71 per cent of the workforce in the primary sector, and only 17 per cent and 12 per cent in manufacturing and service ...