Book contents
- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949
- Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Precarious Wage Labour before 1949
- 3 Incipient Socialist Surplus Appropriation, Exclusion, and Decommodification, 1949–1957
- 4 Radical Inclusion and Radical Exclusion, 1958–1965
- 5 Rebellion, Regularization, and Rebounding, 1966–1976
- 6 Restoring Exploitation, Recalibrating Exclusion, and Recommodification since 1977
- 7 Rise of Agency Labour and Regulations for Labour Protection
- 8 Formal and Agency Workers in the 2010s
- 9 Labour Precarity in Historical and Comparative Perspective
- Appendix: List of Interviews
- Bibliography
- Index
8 - Formal and Agency Workers in the 2010s
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 December 2025
Book contents
- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949
- Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Precarious Wage Labour before 1949
- 3 Incipient Socialist Surplus Appropriation, Exclusion, and Decommodification, 1949–1957
- 4 Radical Inclusion and Radical Exclusion, 1958–1965
- 5 Rebellion, Regularization, and Rebounding, 1966–1976
- 6 Restoring Exploitation, Recalibrating Exclusion, and Recommodification since 1977
- 7 Rise of Agency Labour and Regulations for Labour Protection
- 8 Formal and Agency Workers in the 2010s
- 9 Labour Precarity in Historical and Comparative Perspective
- Appendix: List of Interviews
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter examines the impacts of cumulative changes since 1949 on workers. As state-owned enterprises and export-oriented factories are large users of agency workers, this chapter presents a case study of both formal and agency workers in a large state-owned enterprise with relatively stable orders, and accounts of agency workers in export-oriented factories, with relatively fluctuating orders. It thus covers the two major types of agency workers in China in the 2010s: one with job tenure of years and managed solely by user enterprises, and another one with job tenure of six months or less and managed by both user enterprises and labour dispatch agencies.
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- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949 , pp. 189 - 210Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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