In Hebei Province (China), interprovincial migrants, particularly recent ones, were found to have higher status jobs than lifetime residents in both urban and rural areas. Upper-rung employment was associated with gender and educational attainment, but the most consistent explanation of occupational distribution emphasizes psychological and social…

Lifelong learning and skill flexibility are especially important for workers in China, where structural economic adjustment has generated 22 million layoffs from state-owned enterprises since 1997. Skills that were in huge demand in previous years, such as accounting, international trade, and language translation, are now facing serious oversupply…