From Iron Rice Bowl to Informalization: Markets, Workers, and the State in a Changing China

Chapter 7. Permanent Temporariness in the Chinese Construction Industry

Chapter 7 Permanent Temporariness in the Chinese Construction Industry Sarah Swider One well-documented consequence of Chinese economic growth has been the dramatic increase in the number of migrant workers who have moved from rural areas to the urban ones in search of jobs.The 2000 census estimated the total migrant population at roughly 144 million people,representing 12 percent of the total national population and 25 percent of the total working population (Liang and Ma 2004).The National Bureau of Statistics estimated the number of migrant workers would be 225 million by the end of 2008. Most migrant workers, if not all, work informally and make up the largest proportion of informal workers in China (see Mary Gallagher, Ching Kwan Lee, and Sarosh Kuruvilla, chap. 1, and Albert Park and Fang Cai, chap. 2 in this volume). A burgeoning body of scholarly literature has focused on understanding the lives and working conditions of these new migrant workers.Studies have focused on migrants working in manufacturing (e.g., Lee 1998a; Ngai 1999, 2005); migrants working in enclave economies (e.g., Ma and Xiang 1998; Zhang 2001); and migrants working in various segments of the service industry, including sales (Hanser 2006), the hotel industry (Otis 2007), domestic work (Hairong 2006), and entertainment ( Jacka 2006). Few studies have focused on migrants in the construction industry,1 a surprising omission given that the construction industry is the largest employer of migrant workers. Dorothy Solinger (1999) estimates that between 30 and 50 percent of all migrants were working in construction in 1995, representing roughly 80 percent of total employment in the industry at that time.2 Moreover, for men, who represent 60 percent of all migrants, the construction industry is a primary source of employment. PermanentTemporariness in the Chinese Construction Industry 139 This chapter details how market forces and changes in industry configurations have resulted in a significant growth of informal employment in the construction industry, quite consistent with similar patterns of informal employment in the oil and automobile industries (Kun-Chin Lin, chap. 5, and Lu Zhang, chap. 6 in this volume). Moreover, there is considerable variation in how the employment of these informal migrants is structured. I show that the dominant employment form of mediated employment results in a state of “permanent temporariness”in which migrants are neither strongly tied to their home communities nor integrated into their host communities. These findings are based on qualitative research conducted in Beijing in 2004–2005. In addition to participant observation at several construction job sites, enclaves, nongovernmental agencies (NGOs), and street labor markets, a total of ninety-one interviews were conducted with migrant workers, managers , labor contractors, NGO workers, lawyers, and government officials.These data are supplemented with secondary data from newspapers,scholarly journals, and organizational documents. Industry Overview By 2007, the construction industry in China was the third largest in the world in terms of spending, just behind Japan and the United States. During the past two decades, the industry has grown substantially. Its contribution to GDP increased from 4.3 percent in 1981 to 6.7 percent in 2002 (see fig. 7.1), and the value of gross output expanded from 34.7 billion yuan in 1980 to 1678 billion yuan in 2000, with the housing sector representing the largest percentage (see fig. 7.2). Industry growth has been accompanied by a growth in the number of construction companies (from 57,404 in 1980 to 97,263 in 2000) and increased diversity in terms of ownership. Prior to economic liberalization, there were three main types of companies: state-owned enterprises (SOEs), urban collectives (UCs), and rural brigades (RBs). In the 1980s, RBs represented roughly 90 percent of all companies operating in the construction industry,a figure that had decreased to 50 percent by 2000.This decrease was offset by an increase in SOEs, and also, private firms, foreign companies, joint ventures, and shareholding companies. Despite this increased diversity however, public companies (SOEs,UCs,and RBs) still accounted for the major percentage of construction companies in 1999 (see fig. 7.3). Employment in the construction industry has increased with industry growth. By 2002,the industry employed more than 38 million people,or 5.2 percent of total national employment.The structure of employment has undergone change 140 Swider Figure 7.1 Growth of the Chinese construction industry, 1981–2002 Source: Jin (2003). Figure 7.2 Industry segments in China, by output...