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The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Off-farm Employment and Earnings in Rural China

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2010-10-01
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2010-10-01
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This paper examines the effect of the financial crisis on off-farm employment of China's rural labor force. Using a national representative data set collected from across China, the paper finds that there was a substantial impact. By April 2009 the reduction in off-farm employment as a result of the crises was 6.8 percent of the rural labor force. Monthly earnings also declined. However, while it is estimated that 49 million were laid-off between October 2008 and April 2009, half of them were re-hired in off-farm work by April 2009. By August 2009, less than 2 percent of the rural labor force was unemployed due to the crisis. The robust recovery appears to have helped avoid instability.
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Huang, Jikun; Zhi, Huayong; Huang, Zhurong; Rozelle, Scott; Giles, John. 2010. The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Off-farm Employment and Earnings in Rural China. Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 5439. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3925 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
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