Segmentation and discrimination in China's emerging industrial labor market

This article analyzes wage-setting behavior in four types of enterprise: state-owned enterprises (SOEs), township and village enterprises (TVEs), joint ventures (JVs), and foreign-invested firms (FIFs) in China's light consumer goods industry in 1998. We find that there is no significant difference among the four types of firms in the returns to education, while FIFs pay a wage premium for experience. Gender wage discrimination is found equally across all four firm types. However, the wage advantage enjoyed by urban residents seems to have disappeared across all ownership categories. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.