The Effects Of Knowledge Economy On The Women Employment

The Effects Of Knowledge Economy On The Women Employment
In China Urban Areas
Yu Jiannian
Business School,
Wuhan University 430072 P.R.China
Abstract: This essay explores the relationship between the development of science and hi-tech in China
and the situations of Chinese women layoffs in urban areas. And it discussed the situations of women
employees in knowledge economy and then explains the reasons for women unemployment from
enterprises in urban areas where knowledge economy and hi-tech development in China are integrated.
This article concludes that free competition has abandoned the laid-off females and the coming of
knowledge economy does not seem to provide a rosy future for them if without other support systems.
Key words: Unemployment, Laid off females, Knowledge economy
1.Introduction
In the late 20th century there were discussions about the effects of knowledge economy on the
women employment in China (MaWen, 2001; Wanglan &liu Aifang2001). An optimistic conclusion was
drawn that the coming of knowledge economy and the hi-tech development in China would increase the
employment rates of women. However, the trend of thousands and thousands of female employees being
laid off from state-owned and collective enterprises in China urban areas has not changed since 1990.
The serious steady rise in the female unemployment rates has now become the focus of attention from
governments, society, enterprises and women employees themselves.
This essay explores the relationship between the development of science and hi-tech in China and
the situations of Chinese women layoffs in urban areas. First the essay discussed the situations of
women employees in knowledge economy and then explains the reasons for women unemployment
from enterprises in urban areas where knowledge economy and hi-tech development in China are
integrated. This article concludes that free competition has abandoned the laid-off females and the
coming of knowledge economy does not seem to provide a rosy future for them if without other support
systems.
2.The Situations of Feminine Employment and Unemployment in Urban Districts
According to an investigation by the State Statistics Bureau and All-women Federation of China in
2001, women had lower employment rate than male employees. The investigation indicated that most
female layoffs were from those urban enterprises of all kinds, whether they were state-owned or
collective enterprises, big, medium-sized or small enterprises, profitable or unprofitable enterprises.
For the women aged 18 to 49, the rate had decreased by 16.2 percent since 1990. Meanwhile, about
84.9% of the female respondents stated that they had very strong wills to work.
China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated that, by the end of 2000, 2.65 million female
workers had laid off, making up about 44 per cent of all layoffs. The number spelt a decrease compared
with that of one year ago, when the figure of female workers dismissed from SOEs stood at 2.84
million.
Studies show that it is very difficult for female layoffs to find any new job in the local market and
when they are interviewed by the enterprises they have to face the unequal treatment and are
circumscribes by their age and gender. Many women said they were subjected to a lot of discrimination
in their job seeking. More frequent complaints (18.9% higher) were from the female layoffs than from
their male counterparts. Also, in the re-employment of labor market, laid-off females can not find the
good jobs with better benefits and higher social status, although some of them have higher skills and
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relevant diplomas. In fact most of them later end up self-employed as food vendors or hourly workers.
In 1990 and 2000, the income of female employees increased but was still much lower than male
employees’. In 1999, the personal income of female employees in the city companies was approximately
7409.4 Yuan (893&), only about 70% of the income of the male employees. And the income difference
between the two genders was up to 7.4 percent, which was higher than before.
As to the income distribution, the female employees were also put at the disadvantageous situations.
The female workers with an annual income of below 5000 Yuan (620$) per person comprised 47.4% of
all the women employees. And the percentage of the females’ low income is 19.3% higher than that of
the male employees’. The females with an annual income of up to 15000 Yuan (1840$) only account for
6.1% of all female employees. Low incomes mean that, when they fall out of work, their economic
situation will be worse than laid off males.
In addition to its direct impact on their financial situation, unemployment has a more serious
influence on their life quality, especially their marriage. For instance, one investigation conducted by
Nancheng County Court in Jianxi Province in 2001 revealed that 47 (41.3%) out of the 113 divorce
cases involved female layoffs. In 31 (65%) cases, the women were 30 years of age or older. In 32 (68%)
cases, the couples had been married for five years or longer. The women in 37 cases (78.7%) had an
educational level of junior middle school or lower. In 20 cases, the family's monthly per-capita living
expense budgets were 160 Yuan (80$) or more, while the other 27 made less than 160 Yuan. The
majority of these female workers are believed to be relatively old (30 years of age) and their prospects
for re-employment are clearly poor. Complicated by their tight economic situation these precarious
families are bound to fall apart in the absence of mutual tolerance, understanding, and communication
between husband and wife
As the income gap has been expanded rapidly in recent years, laid-off females often feel that they
cannot enjoy equal benefits from the change. Many, older ones, expect the government to support them
and yearn the days when “China's women hold up half the sky”, as Mao Zedong put it, and when the
female staffs and workers had low incomes but higher job security in a full employment system.
3.Reasons for the Disadvantageous Situations of Laid-off Females in Knowledge
Economy
Today in China “knowledge economy” has become one of the most commonly used terms in the
discussions. It has been assumed that the integration of knowledge and economy occurs as knowledge
commercialization, industrialization, creation, artifice and information as well. The rapidly growing
knowledge economy quickens the pace of technological innovation and shortens life cycles of
technology and product. R&D enjoy an increasing proportion of company budgets, in expectation of
more educated staff and workers and the growth of high tech markets and informal consumers as well.
The original hope of the Chinese labor market in knowledge economy was that knowledge
economy would bring numerous benefits to women employment and re-employment. Few of them have
found the negative effects of upcoming knowledge economy on the women layoffs. This paper suggests
some environmental and personality factors that might be the key to female unemployment in the
knowledge economy.
3.1 Technological Advances and the Reconstruction of Industries
Job opportunities always depend on economic growth. Today China recognizes the "important role
of knowledge and innovations" and has increased its investment in high-tech industries to promote the
great-leap-forward development of Chinese social productive force and employment.
During the recent years of hot expansion of new economy (1996 to present), Chinese government
has been increasing its investment in hi-tech industries for its global competitive advantages and made
optimal allocations of R&D to concentrate on developing hi-tech industries. At the same time, public
and non-public enterprises have seen technology as a quick effective way of making profits and have
shown great interest in investment. A lot of SOE have raised their investment in R&D for being more
competitive.
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Will the enormous hi-tech investments benefit female employment? No. First, the investments are
not a direct influence on employment. The Chinese State Statistics of Bureau found that, although China
achieved an increase of 7.8 % in GDP in 1998, the employment rate only increased by 0.5%. It was the
lowest employment rate for the past 50 years. The statistics also revealed that, as GDP increased by one
percent, 1998 only saw an increase of 47,ooo new jobs.
Second, the women employees especially the lay-off females without the needed skills and
academic degree do no stand any chance of getting suitable jobs in the hi-tech companies. The benefits
of investments in science and hi-tech industries such as the telecommunications, IT industry and so on,
are never innovations themselves to provide or create suitable jobs for women and to increase the
re-employment rate. As a human resource, female layoffs do not appeal to the science and hi-tech
industry.
Third, increased investments in hi-tech industries will result in decreased investments in traditional
industries that women traditionally occupied. The fact that local government decreases its investments in
traditional industries and that local hi-tech enterprises replace local traditional enterprises will greatly
encourage the unemployment rate of female employees and limit their re-employment. Due to the
intense market competition SOE’s degradation has greatly aggravated the worse situation.
3.2 The Readjustment of Traditional Industries
As the expanding investments into hi-tech sectors have limited the re-employment of women, the
readjustment of traditional industrial compositions is also responsible for the low employment rates of
women.
Re-constructing and elevating the traditional industries with high & new technologies and
advanced adaptable technologies is a contributing factor to economic growth. It results in the upgrading
of the intellectual property in the organizations, which causes numerous women jobless.
First, the investment in re-adjustment goes into big-sized SOE, mostly monopoly enterprises that have a
very limited demand for women resources. Yet based on the government’s reform policies small and
medium-sized traditional SOE, most of which are the labor-intensive enterprises that are open to women,
will be sold or go bankrupt.
Second, a traditional industry is always beginning its reform by cutting back on employees for the
organizational structure redesigning. And women workers are always at the top of the list to be fired in
most SOE. For instance, the textile industry was the first to begin the reform in business. In 1994 the
decision to encapsulate 10 million spindles for upgrading the textile technological level produced about
6 million jobless women in Shanghai, Wuhan and other textile industrial cities.
Third, rooted weaknesses in the region's traditional industries make life tougher for laid-off females.
For instance, the cities of Northeast China, once the proud pistons of the old industry, are in crisis.
Major SOE here--a mix of steel mills, oil wells and manufacturing companies--have been forced to
stand or fall under their own weight. And the brunt of this economic crunch--with its factories closed
and massive layoffs--has fallen most squarely on the shoulders of women.
Fifth, The jobs that suit women of traditional industry are limited. The demand for women labor
force and support is not big in the labor market. For example, when textile sectors reduced jobs steadily
in the reform, other conventional industries like health–care industry were still developing rapidly and
could receive more labor forces. However the demand for more work forces did not benefit middle-aged
female layoffs, who could never rival the younger ones.
Males Continue to Dominate Hi-tech Markets.
Overall, woman’s share of professional jobs has increased since 1990. However, the jobs are limited
to teaching, nursing and services. This is especially true of the information telecommunications industry
once defined as “the women friendship industry”. Although the number of women that get trained in this
field is rapidly expanding, the women’s share of the jobs is still low in this field. Therefore, it is not
strange to find many laid-off women with higher degrees and higher skills, who fail to seek professional
jobs in the hi-tech enterprises.
3.3 The Company’s Glass Ceiling and Gender Schema
3.3.1 Discrimination in the Recruitment
In China intellectual capital is bound up with the notion of the knowledgeable workers and
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knowledge-based management. The enterprises’ stress on the importance of knowledge leads to the
change in many recruitment policies, which is illustrated by increased job requirements, hampering
women from being employed and re-employed. For instance, harsh hiring teams even specify the
requirement that men be needed for technique staff positions, which is a hopeless reality for women. The
recruitment that addresses “high standards” results in “direct" or "adverse " discrimination. An example
of "direct" discrimination would be to simply state, "No women can do the jobs". An example of
"adverse” discrimination would be to set a standard for size, weight, strength or physical endurance that
almost no women are able to meet.
3.3.2 Gender schema about women’s capability
As the intellectual capital increases significantly, enterprises attach more importance to the
“talents” of the employed. This appears to be a fundamental reason why women make less in the
high-tech fields. The popular belief is that men are better suited for important work. It sets prejudiced
expectations about the proper sex roles and their professional competence. People expect men to do
better job and see their behavior in the rosy light of people’s positive expectations. Conversely, women
are considered to be less creative in science and technology and their actual performance is judged in the
darker light of people negative expectations. Once people hold a gender schema, they tend to keep it in
the face of discrepant evidence. Such biases have free play in recruitment towards sex, height, age and
figure.
3.3.3 Discrimination for the age of laid off women
The laid-off females suffer from outright discrimination and deeply held cultural biases about the
abilities of women, particularly laid-off women over 40. If they’re over 40, or even 35, it's very hard for
them to find new jobs. Many middle-aged women who have been laid off over one year usually are
recruited for and low salaried jobs requiring low skill. Public and private companies want the younger
ones. So only low skill work is open to those over 40: delivering newspapers; cooking in a company
canteen; helping with childcare and elder care, housework, catering services or sales clerks in
department stores.
3.4. The Equipment and Infrastructures that Facilitate Flexible Employment of Women
China has already invested heavily in their R&D, high tech industries and the re-constructing and
elevating of the traditional industries. Restrained by industry level, the country cannot establish its basic
hi-tech infrastructures for the employees’ personal fulfillment in a knowledge-based economy. The
advanced personnel training and education as well as a heavy investment in equipment are essential for
most people to enjoy the benefits of knowledge economy. Efficient telecommunications, software,
computer network and system maintenance and other hi-tech service network are foundations for people
to take flexibility into the knowledge-basic economy activities. For instance, the electronics commerce
business opens up new possibilities of self-employment. Housewives have taken the opportunity to start
businesses of their own by opening shops on the Internet. This is still a dream for most laid-off females
in China.
3.5 The Negative Stereotypes of Laid-off Women as a Group in the Labor Market
The labor market holds negative stereotypes about laid-off women, which is not good enough to
improve their chances of employment and re-employment. The public opinion about them is a negative
preparation for their effort to back into labor markets.
For instance, the label of low employability on the women suggests their lack of such admirable
qualities nowadays as competitiveness and creativity. In one word they are thought as losers in the
development of knowledge economy.
Women going back home is thought to be an appropriate choice to keep the enterprises developing
and to keep the society stable. SOE think it is a better choice for women to tend the family and for the
husbands to remain as breadwinners, since a lot of laid-off men instead of unemployed women could
pose a threat to society.
Now many enterprises answer the call of the government to help female layoffs. A possible
replacement of the women’s un-competitiveness is auction by intermediary of women’s big names such
as industry, reliability and work experience that can stimulate the employer’s compassion and
sympathies. Nevertheless, female layoffs haven’t expanded their labor market share and are still within
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very limited gain from re-employment. In order for them to be as competitive and capable as they are
required to be, they must take the initiative.
3.6 The Personality Traits of Women
3.6.1 The Preferences for Positions
From the investigation by the Statistics of Ministry of Labor and Social Security P.R.China in 1999,
women gave preference to occupations in wholesale, retail, social service, education and culture,
finances, insurance, restaurants and so on.
As to the job choice preference, compared with the men from their former factories, who tended to
hold the technical or management jobs, the female ex-employees favored such civilian jobs as secretary,
clerk and so on. So women tend to hold more “staff” positions than “line management” positions, which
leads to the fact that they are more likely to be laid off in an economic downturn.
Many female workers have old-fashioned attitudes toward choice of work. A considerable number
of the women employees feel that only a job in a state enterprise can offer job security, dignity, and
honor. When asked “what kind of unit would they prefer to be re-employed by?” many female layoffs
would not hesitate to choose a state enterprise. With the development in market economy both public
and non-public enterprises have the same status. However, female employees still prefer those
comfortable, dignified jobs with high security and good welfare to challenging jobs.
3.6.2 Age, Capability and Ability to Learn
Recent years have seen an increasing number of young female layoffs although older women still
are a majority. According the investigation by the National Union of China, up to 14% of laid-off
women were under 25 of age, 46% aged 26 to 35, and 80% older than 30. The female ex-employees are
thought to be relatively unskilled and they cannot get the diplomas that satisfy the job descriptions. In
the beginning of 1990s the National Union conducted a survey of laid-off women in urban districts, who
had for decades populated traditional factories in an array of urban industries that range from textile
mills to chemical plants. They learned few skills despite years of work. 28% of the respondents had held
titled professional posts. The other 72% had taken up untitled jobs. Only 68 women (14% of the
respondents) had undergone vocational training since being laid off and obtained technical skills in one
or two specialties, while the great majority still remained much the same as prior to being laid off. So a
job seeker with a low degree will have no chance of obtaining a desired job.
Thanks to the improvement of educational system, the middle-aged laid-off women have received
different schooling. Investigations in 1990 and 1997 showed that the laid-off women’ educational level
was on the rise.
Of the 474 laid-off female workers surveyed in 1990, only 186(39% of the total), had an
educational level of senior middle school or higher. The other 61%) had a junior middle school or lower
educational level. Of the1000 laid-off female workers surveyed in 1997, 50.7 % finished junior middle
school (9 years of education), 42.7% senior middle school (12 years) and 7.6% having a college or
university degree.
3.6.3 Their Interest in and Willingness for Training Programs
Job training programmed for laid-off women is of much help for them to find new work and is a
useful way to increase their worth in the competition. Local governments in residential communities
take the responsibility for such training programs and offer other assistance to women.
These training programs usually expose the women to work skills and special knowledge that can
help them to get re-employed or to restart their own business. Some of them say that they have racked
their brains for ways of going into business of their own, but their lack of skills and experience in
marketing prevent them from taking the chance to make a profit and they always give up halfway.
However, not all laid-off women have confidence and interest in such training. In 1997 the
National General Labor Union of China surveyed 1000 laid-off women on how strong their interest is in
being trained, of whom 23.5% made the choice of ‘very strong’, 20% ‘moderate’ and 24% ‘low’.
3.6.4 Over-dependency
Many studies demonstrated that the great majority of laid-off women pinned their hopes for
re-employment on enterprises and the government rather than on themselves. Investigation by the
Women Federation of Jiangsu Province in 1997 reported that 58.5% of the respondent’s chose
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state-owned enterprises and that 69% said they wanted to go back to the former units. To the question,
"What do you feel is the best avenue to re-employment?” the first answer is relying on enterprises,
followed by the government and then the societal forces. Only 27% of the respondents felt that they
should rely primarily on themselves and the help of family and friends.
3.6.5 Incompatibility between Career and Household
The incompatibility between career and household may cause women’s career change in the
context of other variables including the woman's working locality, the division of household labor and
the roles. Length of maternity leave, working hours, and family burdens are associated with several
forms of dissatisfaction, which in turn restrict laid-off females’ development.
When women return to work after the maternity leave, they may find jobs with different locations,
working hours, working terms and wages related to the specific type of job. These changes give women
more options of jobs and lifestyles. However, most of them would spend the following few years to
improve their abilities and knowledge needed for the specific job. Career choice and working locality in
particular restrict the women employment and re-employment, indicating women’s dilemma where most
of them have to sacrifice important and better paid positions for the families and are at a higher risk of
being fired.
4. Summary and discussion
The reasons for women workers liable to be dismissed from enterprises include external and
internal factors. The external factors involve the increased investments in hi-tech, the adjustment of
industrial structures by means of new and advanced technology, the company’s discrimination against
female workers’ capability, the lack of equipment and infrastructure facilities to entitle women to
flexible jobs and the unfavorable image of laid-off females. The internal factors consist of the women’s
inherent personality, their preferences for certain jobs, their limited capabilities and knowledge and the
incomparability between housework and career.
Table 1 .The External and Internal Factors Relevant to Laid-off Females
Item
1.
2.
3.
4.
6.
External relevant factors
Internal Relevant Factors
Increased investments into hi-tech industry
Readjustment of traditional industry by
hi -new Technology
Hi-tech jobs occupied by men
Increased job standards
Gender Schema for laid-off women
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Education and capabilities
Preferences for jobs and positions
Age, capability and education
Over-dependence
Incompatibility between career and household
Negative stereotype held by the labor market
Knowledge economy, which emphasizes the importance of knowledge capital and the market
economy, brings about uncertainty, competition and risks. It conflicts with the innate personal
preferences of most laid-off females, who favor routine work and job security over career risks. The
changing environment leads most of them into the disadvantageous situation where they lose their jobs
and, more important, their confidence in themselves in the labor market. So this paper contends that
most of laid-off females are at a disadvantage and as an unprivileged group in knowledge-based
economy their low economic and social status cannot be changed given the factors mentioned above. As
Avinash Persaud put it, "the knowledge economy will actually expand the gap between rich and poor...",
which is a realistic depiction of the situation in China.
Reference
[1] National Bureau of Statistics of China and Ministry of Labor and Social Security of China in 1999
[2]. Elisabeth Rosenthal. In China, 35+ and Female = Unemployable. New York Times.Oct 13, 1998.
[3] Zong Wei. Training benefits laid-off women. China Daily. Sep 4, 1998. pg. 2
[4] Avinash Persaud. Knowledge gap. Financial Times. London (UK): May 17, 2000. pg. 15
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