Employment of Labor in the Chinese History.

From a very early time the Chinese economy had been characterized by a high man-arable land ratio as compared with the European history. Chinese rulers had not been pressed by severe labor shortages to institute tight control over labor. Consequently, local labor markets for hiring developed very early in China and, with a few exceptional periods, remained fairly free. This paper attempts to trace the development of labor markets and determine the extent to which waged workers were employed in the Chinese history. From scattered quantitative data, an increasing trend of labor employment over time seems discernible. Wage data have been compiled, too. When converted into real terms, i.e. the amount of grain that could be purchased with the cash wage at the price prevailing then, the wage data display a clear trend of decline in the long history. The level of real wages in the 19th century was more than ten times the level in the 19th century. It is believed that the decline reflects the enormous multiplication of population and labor, which depressed the marginal product of workers. Moreover, the decline in real wages was accompanied by a sharp deterioration of employment conditions. It is emphatically pointed out, however, that in most cases employment contracts were made on a voluntary basis. As long as this was true, the inferior status of workers should be interpreted as part of the worsening terms of employment rather than a symbol of slavery. In a basically uncontrolled labor market, the worker had the freedom to reject a job offer if he considered any of the employment terms unacceptable. The fact that the near-slave status of hired hands appeared after the 12th century suggests that the pressure of excess supply of labor forced workers to accept both the falling wage and the debased status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]