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Manpower Absorption in the Non-Agricultural Branches of the Economy of Communist China, 1953–58*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Extract

Although based on fragmentary data, analysis of employment in the six years 1953 to 1958 is of great interest for what it reveals of the relationships between urban working age, population growth, increasing non-agricultural employment, and Chinese Communist economic policies. The sharp reversal in 1958 of past trends in the growth of the urban population and non-agricultural employment has no parallel in the history of China or probably any other country. In a single year the earlier phenomenon of urban population steadily growing at an average rate far higher than that of nonagricultural or urban employment disappeared. In 1958 both nonagricultural and urban employment grew so much that a migration from countryside to town of unprecedented magnitude occurred in order to meet the increased demands for urban labour. Most curious of all, the connection between growth of the urban population and growth of non-agricultural employment, implicit in programmes of expansion of the non-agricultural branches of the economy undertaken by the Chinese Communists, appears to have been largely outside the scope of Marxist-Leninist concepts and of Communist economic planning.

Type
Population Problems
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1961

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References

1 Mu-ch'iao, Hsüeh, “1953-nien t'ung-chi kung-tso chien-t'ao ho 1954-nien t'ung-chi kung-tso yao-tien”Google Scholar (“An Examination of 1953 Statistical Work and Important Points in 1954 Statistical Work”), T'ung-chi Kung-tso T'ung-hsin (Statistical Work Bulletin) (hereafter cited as TCKT), No. 1, 04 12, 1954, pp. 411.Google Scholar

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8 “Wei-le pang-chu kuo-chia t'ung-chi chü cheng-feng Hsüeh Mu-ch'iao chü-chang yao-ch'ing Cuing Chin pu-fen ching-chi-hsüeh t'ung-chi-hsüeh chiao-shou chü-hsing tso-t'an-hui (“Director of the State Statistical Bureau, Hsüeh Mu-ch'iao, Invites Professors of Economics and Statistics in Peking and Tientsin to a Symposium to Help in the Rectification of the State Statistical Bureau”), TCKT, No. 12, 06 29, 1959, pp. 110.Google Scholar

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10 Yin-ch'u, Ma, “Wo-ti che-hsüeh ssu-hsiang ho ching-chi li-lun”Google Scholar (“My Philosophical Thought and Economic Theory”), Hsin Chien-she (New Construction), No. 11, 11 7, 1959, pp. 2155Google Scholar, translated in ECMM, No. 195, 01 11, 1960, pp. 146.Google Scholar

11 “Appointments and Removals Approved by State Council at its 98th Meeting,” NCNA, 07 25, 1957Google Scholar, translated in Survey of the China Mainland Press (hereafter cited as SCMP) Hong Kong: U.S. Consulate-General, No. 2244, p. 1.

12 “Non-Productive Populations in Cities Too Large and Growing Too Fast,” NCNA, 07 25, 1957, translated in SCMP, No. 1582, pp. 12.Google Scholar

13 Mu-ch'iao, Hsüeh, “National Construction and Overall Arrangements for People's Livelihood,” Hsüeh-hsi (Study), No. 3, 02 3, 1958Google Scholar, translated in ECMM, No. 129, 05 19, 1958, pp. 3839.Google Scholar

14 Of the 1957 total of 24 million workers and employees, 20 million are reported as urban in Hsü Min, “K'ao-lü sheng-huo wen-t'i yao-yu ch'üan-chü” (“Consider Problems of Livelihood in Terms of the Whole”), Kung-jen Jih-pao (Daily Worker) (hereafter cited as KJJP), 12 20, 1957, p. 3.Google Scholar Remaining 1957 non-agricultural employment, persons other than workers and employees, is allocated according to a total of 3,460,000 urban handicraftsmen, reported in Sung P'ing, “The Problem of Employment,” Lao-tung (Labour) (hereafter cited as LT), No. 21, 10 4, 1957Google Scholar, translated in ECMM, No. 117, 02 3, 1958, p. 19.Google Scholar Similar allocations are made arbitrarily in the following employment categories for which reported urban employment data are lacking: 1 million urban of 2·5 million persons engaged in traditional forms of transport, 1 million urban of 1·5 million persons engaged in traditional forms of Chinese medicine, 1·4 million urban of 3·6 million peddlers and small merchants, 500,000 urban of 1·5 million fishing operatives, 500,000 urban of 500,000 persons engaged in barbering, hotel-keeping, bathhouse and photographic studio operation, and cleaning and dyeing.

15 Claims of 100 million peasants engaged in water conservancy projects in the winter of 1957–58 and 60 million persons engaged in smelting iron in backyard furnaces indicate something of the magnitude of the labour force deployed from time to time in such short-term projects. Since the State Statistical Bureau has never reported such labour in its economic communiqués, it is assumed that no regular accounting system was established to record it, and hence that no basis exists for estimating it as a whole from year to year.

16 See Appendix.

17 Employment in the modern sector is defined as the number of workers and employees in the non-agricultural branches of the economy, derived by subtracting the number of workers and employees in state farms and forestry from the total number of workers and employees. See Appendix.

18 Employment in the traditional sector is defined as the total number of persons other than workers and employees engaged in the non-agricultural branches of the economy. See Appendix.

19 “Wo-kuo kung-yeh chien-she ti fei-yo fa-chan” (“The Flying Development of Industry in China”), T'ung-chi Yen-chiu (Statistical Research) (hereafter cited as TCYC), No. 9, 09 23, 1958, p. 5.Google Scholar

20 “Progress of the Chinese Working Class,” NCNA, 11 28, 1957, contained in SCMP, No. 1665, p. 32.Google Scholar

21 “Kuan-yü chih-kung sheng-huo kai-shan ch'ing-k'uang ti t'ung-chi tzu-liao” (“Statistical Data Relating to the Rising Standards of Living of Workers and Employees”), Data Section, TCKT, No. 14, 07 29, 1957, p. 13Google Scholar; and “Chi-pen chien-she kung-tso ti ta-yo-chin” (“The Big Leap Forward in Basic Construction”), TCYC, No. 9, 09 23, 1958, p. 10Google Scholar, translated in ECMM, No. 153, 01 12, 1959, p. 34.Google Scholar

22 See notes 19 and 21, and Vinogradov, N. P., “Rabochiy klass Kitayskoy narodnoy respubliki”Google Scholar (“The Working Class of the Chinese People's Republic”), Problemy vostokovedeniya) (Problems of the Far East), No. 2, 1960, p. 84Google Scholar, quoting Wo-kuo ti kuo-min ching-chi chien-she ho jen-min sheng-huo (China's National Economic Construction and the People's Livelihood) (Peking: State Statistical Bureau, 1958), p. 292.Google Scholar

23 See Appendix for sources of data on the number of persons other than workers and employees engaged in trade, traditional forms of transport, and handicrafts.

24 Urban population totals from 1952 through 1956 are reported in “Data on China's Population from 1949 to 1956,” TCKT, No. 11, 06 14, 1957Google Scholar, translated in ECMM, No. 91, 07 22, 1957, pp. 2324.Google Scholar

25 The 1957 figure is extrapolated as a year-end total from 1956 and 1957 annual average urban population totals in Ni, Ernest, Distribution of the Urban and Rural Population of Mainland China: 1953 and 1958 (Washington: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1960)Google Scholar, International Population Reports, Series P-95, No. 56, table B, p. 4.

26 P'ing, Sung, “The Problem of Employment,” LT, No. 21, 10 4, 1957Google Scholar, translated in ECMM, No. 117, pp. 2223.Google Scholar

27 The following sources indicate apparently ineffective attempts to control migration from farm to city from 1952 through 1957: “Notice of Central-South Military Administrative Committee on Prevention of Flow of Rural Labour Power to Cities,” Ch'ang-chiang Jih-pao (Yangtse Daily), 10 21, 1952, translated in SCMP, No. 444, pp. 3031Google Scholar; “We Should Dissuade Peasants From Blindly Moving Towards Cities, Declares Social Affairs Department, Ministry of Interior,” People's Daily, 11 26, 1952, translated in SCMP, No. 468, pp. 1112Google Scholar; “Government Administration Council Directive on Dissuasion of Peasants From Blind Influx Into Cities,” NCNA, 04 17, 1953, translated in SCMP, No. 554, pp. 2425Google Scholar; “Central People's Government Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Labour Issue Joint Directive Concerning Continued Implementation of Directive Advising Against Blind Influx of Peasants Into Cities,” dated 03 12, 1954Google Scholar, People's Daily, 03 15, 1954, translated in SCMP, No. 774, pp. 89Google Scholar; “Mobilise the Non-Productive Population in Cities to Return to Rural Areas for Production,” Kuang-ming Jih-pao, 12 29, 1955, translated in SCMP, No. 1203, pp. 89Google Scholar; “Non-Productive Populations in Cities Too Large and Growing Too Fast,” NCNA, 07 25, 1957, translated in SCMP, No. 1582, pp. 12Google Scholar; “The State Council's Provisional Regulations Governing Recruitment of Temporary Workers in Rural Areas by Various Units,” and Ma Wen-jui (Minister of Labour), “Explanations of State Council's Provisional Regulations Governing Recruitment of Temporary Workers in Rural Areas by Various Units,” NCNA, 12 13, 1957, translated in SCMP, No. 1699, pp. 2226.Google Scholar

28 See Appendix.

29 Sources of data on 7·9 million industrial, 1·9 million construction and 1·9 million transport workers and employees are given in notes 19, 21 and 22.

30 The sources of data on the number of industrial workers and employees in 1958 are given in note 31. The 1958 total of 5·3 million construction workers and employees is reported in The Great Ten Years, p. 44.Google Scholar Sources of data used to estimate a 1958 year-end total of 3,278,000 workers and employees in transport, posts, and telecommunications are: “Railway Trade Union Congress Opens,” NCNA, 04 7, 1958, contained in SCMP, No. 1749, p. 3Google Scholar; The Great Ten Years, pp. 131 and 137Google Scholar; Cheng-ts'ao, , “Ten Years of Railroad Work,” People's Daily, 09 28, 1959, translated in CB, No. 607, p. 17Google Scholar; “Railway Workers Evoke New Upsurge of the Movement for Production Increase and Economy,” KJJP, 09 18, 1959, translated in SCMP, No. 2111, p. 11Google Scholar; Jen-min Yu-tien (People's Posts and Telecommunications), No. 15, 05 22, 1959, p. 5Google Scholar; “National Conference of Outstanding Communications Workers Opens,” NCNA, 04 20, 1956, translated in SCMP, No. 1281, p. 7.Google Scholar

31 Sources of data used to estimate industrial employment at the end of 1958 include in addition to that given in note 19: “On Raising of Labour Efficiency,” People's Daily, 05 15, 1959, p. 1, translated in SCMP, No. 2024, p. 1Google Scholar; Teng Chieh, as cited in Appendix under “Handicrafts”; “Chua-chin shih-chi tseng-ch'an yuanyen” (“Seize the Opportunity to Produce More Crude Salt”), KJJP, 05 4, 1960, p. 2Google Scholar; Ch'i-hua, Mao, “Ch'ung-fen fa-hui ‘ke ch'in so nung,’ pao-cheng sheng-ch'an chien-she keng ta yo-chin”Google Scholar (“Fully Bring Out ‘From Each According to His Ability’ and Guarantee a Bigger Leap Forward in Production and Construction”), LT, No. 1, 01 3, 1959, p. 6Google Scholar; “Community Workshops and Service Depôts Popular in China,” NCNA, 01 8, 1960, contained in SCMP, No. 2176, p. 6.Google Scholar

32 Substantial transfers of workers and employees from trade and government administration to industry in 1958 are mentioned in “State Statistical Bureau's Report on China's Economic Growth in First Six Months of 1958,” NCNA, 08 2, 1958, contained in SCMP, No. 1830, p. 21.Google Scholar See also Ch'i-hua, Mao, loc. cit.Google Scholar

33 On the possibility and need for raising output among workers newly hired in 1958 see: Ta-lin, Ch'en, “Raising Labour Productivity Is an Important Task,”Google ScholarKJJP, 03 25, 1959, translated in SCMP, No. 1997, pp. 58Google Scholar; “Fully Develop the Potentiality of Manpower Within Our Enterprises,” editorial, People's Daily, 03 13, 1959, translated in SCMP, No. 1982, pp. 69Google Scholar; “On Raising of Labour Efficiency,” editorial, People's Daily, 05 19, 1959, translated in SCMP, No. 2024, pp. 69.Google Scholar

34 Data on aggregate worker and employee wage-payments from 1957 through 1959 are contained in: Po I-po, “Draft Plan for Development of the National Economy in 1958,” NCNA, 02 13, 1958, contained in CB, No. 494, p. 19Google Scholar; I-wen, Chao, “Ta-yo-chin i-lai ling-shou shih-ch'ang ti pien-hua”Google Scholar (“Changes in the Retail Market Since the Big Leap Forward”), Chung-yang ho-tso t'ung-hsin (Centred Co-operative Bulletin), No. 5, 05 11, 1959, p. 30Google Scholar; Hsin-hsüeh, Hsü, “High Speed and Proportionate Development of the National Economy,” Hung Ch'i (Red Flag), No. 3, 02 1, 1960, translated in ECMM, No. 203, p. 2Google Scholar; Fu-ch'un, Li, “Text of Vice-Premier Li Fu-ch'un's Report on the Draft 1960 Economic Plan,”Google ScholarNCNA, 03 30, 1960, contained in CB, No. 615, p. 20.Google Scholar

35 Based on estimates made by the Foreign Manpower Research Office, Bureau of the Census, U.S Dept. of Commerce.

36 En-lai, Chou, “The Great Decade,”Google ScholarNCNA, 10 6, 1959, contained in CB, No. 598, p. 5.Google Scholar

37 See note 35.

38 It is assumed that of the 20 million persons reported added to the urban population from 1958 to 1960, the major portion was added in 1958, raising the total urban population from 94·4 to 110 million persons. Sources of data on urban population growth in these years are: “How Chinese Working Class Has Grown to 32 million,” NCNA, 04 26, 1959, contained in SCMP, No. 2007, p. 14Google Scholar; Chou Po-p'ing, “Supply of Food Grains in China This Year,” China News Service, Canton, 10 3, 1959, contained in SCMP, No. 2126, p. 16Google Scholar; Yü-chi, Ch'eng, “Fully Understand the Great Significance of Agriculture as the Foundation,” Chung-kuo Ch'ing-nien Poo (China Youth Daily), 07 7, 1960, translated in SCMP, No. 2319, p. 15Google Scholar; “Ch'üan-tang tung-shou, ch'üan-min tung-shou, ta-pan nung-yeh, ta-pan liang-shih” (“Let the Whole Party Start to Work, the Whole People Start to Work, to Farm, to Raise Grain”), editorial, People's Daily, 08 25, 1960, p. 1.Google Scholar

39 See note 35.

40 See note 38.

41 See note 35.

45 The increase in the number of female workers and employees in 1958 is reported in “Tsai Chang Addresses Women's Rally,” NCNA, 03 7, 1959, contained in SCMP, No. 1971, p. 8.Google Scholar