Compositions of the labour force: is Beijing different from London?

This paper studies the labour force in Beijing in relation to that in London. Through this comparative approach, the paper breaks the current isolation of Chinese studies, crosses the categorical divides in comparative research, and addresses local-global dialects in global cities. A very similar de...

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Main Author: Shi, Q
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2019
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author Shi, Q
author_facet Shi, Q
author_sort Shi, Q
collection OXFORD
description This paper studies the labour force in Beijing in relation to that in London. Through this comparative approach, the paper breaks the current isolation of Chinese studies, crosses the categorical divides in comparative research, and addresses local-global dialects in global cities. A very similar description of the labour force between these two cities is revealed. The labour forces in both cities had a young age profile with that in Beijing being only slightly younger, both shared a male-dominated characteristic with a stronger dominance in Beijing, and comprised primarily highly educated individuals who were slightly less represented in Beijing. Such a dominance of young, male and highly educated individuals in both cities is due to the two cities’ similar attraction to these people as both now being a global city. The different extents of dominance in Beijing, however, are influenced by its various institutional practices. Yet with an aging population and a fast-developing urbanisation in China, these practices are very likely to be altered in the near future. It is therefore foreseeable that the labour force in Beijing will become yet more similar to that of London very soon. Based on these findings, it is untenable to claim Chinese cities as being greatly different. To largely exclude such cities from the comparative research is also no longer justifiable.
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spelling oxford-uuid:11df80f6-0c66-4c1a-a304-edae288aef2f2022-03-26T10:04:47ZCompositions of the labour force: is Beijing different from London?Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:11df80f6-0c66-4c1a-a304-edae288aef2fEnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2019Shi, QThis paper studies the labour force in Beijing in relation to that in London. Through this comparative approach, the paper breaks the current isolation of Chinese studies, crosses the categorical divides in comparative research, and addresses local-global dialects in global cities. A very similar description of the labour force between these two cities is revealed. The labour forces in both cities had a young age profile with that in Beijing being only slightly younger, both shared a male-dominated characteristic with a stronger dominance in Beijing, and comprised primarily highly educated individuals who were slightly less represented in Beijing. Such a dominance of young, male and highly educated individuals in both cities is due to the two cities’ similar attraction to these people as both now being a global city. The different extents of dominance in Beijing, however, are influenced by its various institutional practices. Yet with an aging population and a fast-developing urbanisation in China, these practices are very likely to be altered in the near future. It is therefore foreseeable that the labour force in Beijing will become yet more similar to that of London very soon. Based on these findings, it is untenable to claim Chinese cities as being greatly different. To largely exclude such cities from the comparative research is also no longer justifiable.
spellingShingle Shi, Q
Compositions of the labour force: is Beijing different from London?
title Compositions of the labour force: is Beijing different from London?
title_full Compositions of the labour force: is Beijing different from London?
title_fullStr Compositions of the labour force: is Beijing different from London?
title_full_unstemmed Compositions of the labour force: is Beijing different from London?
title_short Compositions of the labour force: is Beijing different from London?
title_sort compositions of the labour force is beijing different from london
work_keys_str_mv AT shiq compositionsofthelabourforceisbeijingdifferentfromlondon