Journal
WORK EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIETY
Volume 29, Issue 1, Pages 41-59Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/0950017014526631
Keywords
China; China precarious work; construction work; employment configuration; informal labour market; informal work; migrant workers; migration; precarious employment; urban employment
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In China, informal precarious work has exploded and now represents a majority of urban employment. This article explores precarious informal work by presenting a case study of migrant workers in the construction industry. Despite the fact that these workers are all unregistered migrants performing informal construction work, there exists a diversity of labour market situations, working conditions and work relations. This article introduces the concept of employment configuration' to analyse this diversity and to bring informal workers, who are operating outside of state regulations, back into our industrial labour relations framework. The concept of employment configuration also refocuses our attention from the dyadic worker-employer relationship to the more complex triad of the worker, the employer and the state, shedding light on varying sources of control and exploitation of these migrant workers.
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