The Diverging Labor Market Performance of Mainland Chinese Immigrants in Hong Kong

• In Event: 163 - Regular Session. Contexts and Trajectories of Incorporation

Abstract

This research probes into the changing labor market performance of the mainland-born Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong and the impacts of one’s educational attainment over time under the drastic post-industrialization process and the emerging mainland-oriented economy in Hong Kong in recent decades. Five 5% Hong Kong population census data (1991, 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011) and the multilevel cross-classified random effects modeling are applied. Results show that, due to the deindustrialization which benefits the highly-educated and penalizes the poorly-educated, the difference in personal income between local Chinese/mainland Chinese immigrants with higher and lower educational attainments was larger for later periods than for earlier periods. Comparing the mainland Chinese immigrants with the local-born Chinese, it is also found that the personal income of mainland Chinese immigrants with high school degree or below was lower than that for Hong Kong local-born Chinese with similar educational attainment, especially in later periods. Meanwhile, although the mainland Chinese immigrant college graduates always earned less than their local counterparts, the income of the former group increased over time and the local-migrant income difference was substantially reduced, thanks to their “mainland capitals” that benefit them more than the locals under the rising mainland-oriented economy in Hong Kong, especially in the highly-educated-concentrated producer service sectors. A similar conclusion can also stand when we compare the recent immigrants with the early ones; actually, in the latest two periods (2006 and 2011), the recent immigrant college graduates earned more than the early settlers.

Authors

• Wenyang Su, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Yuying Tong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong