Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Eroding Hukou System And The New Minimum Wage In China: The Impacts Of Economic Inequality, Labor Shortages And Social Unrest, Allison J. Selby

Senior Theses and Projects

The hukou system, also known as the Household Registration System, has had a significant impact on China’s social, political, and economic trajectory since the time of its implementation in 1958. Specifically, it has helped to create the societal-wide imbalance between the prosperous coastal cities along the eastern seaboard and the lagging rural countryside of China’s interior provinces, where a second class group of citizens has emerged. As a result, the central government has strategically begun to increase the minimum wage nation-wide, as evidenced by the 12^th Five Year Plan. The repercussions of this are potentially enormous, not only for …