This journal is one of the earliest journals on population science in China. It is issued worldwide and indexed by CSSCI, and it is listed as the national Chinese core periodicaland the core periodical on population science.
Editor-in-Chief Yu Xiao
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Wang Xiaofeng, Wang Huabo
Editorial Board Wang Guangzhou, Wang Jinying, Yi Hao, Tian Yipeng, Sun Changzhi, Zhu Yu, Zhang Shiwei, Qiu Hong, Lu Jiehua, Chen Yingzi, Li Shuzhuo, Fan Lida, Yang Chenggang, Yang
In 2012, the young elderly population aging from 60 to 69 has reached 112 million in China, and the quantity and scale are in rising trend. At the same time, along with social and economic development, medical and health conditions improvement, the quality of Chinese young elderly human resources is also constantly optimizing. Meanwhile, China is a large country, and regional differences are huge, so the development of young elderly human resources must consider regional differences. Furthermore, there are both qualitative and quantitative characteristics in human resources. In detail, throughout the 31 provincial administrative regions, younger elderly human resources appear to be short in number and high in quality in eastern region, and the situation in central and western region is opposite. This paper concludes that younger elderly human resources level is a result of synergetic actions between various factors, while the “quality” and “quantity” differences among the regions are not complementary; after all, the differences of the young elderly human resources level are caused by different regional economic development level; simultaneously, the population resources in central and western region cannot be converted into human resources sufficiently; so, postponing retirement age is one of the most reasonable measures to the human resource development of the young elderly in the future.
If the family planning policy can lead to the increase of sex ratio at birth, then the fertility policy adjustment such as the selective two-child policy is bound to ease the momentum of the increase of sex ratio at birth. To test this assumption, this study employs the latest data on the sex ratio at birth from all the provinces to investigate the effects of the selective two-child policy on the sex ratio at birth. This paper concludes that the selective two-child policy will ease the sex ratio at birth of the first child but worsen the sex ratio at birth of the second child. Because for a couple having son preference the selective two-child policy actually means another chance to have a son, which will worsen the sex ratio at birth of the second child. Therefore, the key for easing the sex ratio at birth is to change fertility culture of son preference.
This paper analyses the marital status and its change trend with data from the Sixth National Population Census of China as the basis, as well as the data from the fifth census and the fourth census. The results show that the proportion of the elderly with spouse has increased significantly and the proportion of widowed elderly has decreased since 1990. However, the number of widowed elderly has increased prominently and the proportions of the unmarried and divorced elderly have risen within the last 20 years. Compared with the male elderly, the proportion of the female elderly with spouse declined more sharply with increasing age. The differences of marital status of the elderly are great between rural and urban areas and among different regions. The trend of being single among rural male elderly and the trend of divorce among urban elderly are particularly prominent. The results through cohort analysis indicate that the female elderly from 60 to 70 years old face the highest risk of losing spouse, while the male elderly over the age of 65 face such highest risk.
To investigate the interactive relationship between urbanization and industrial structure evolution of Jilin Province, this article adopts the time-series data from 1952 to 2013, and conducts dynamic quantitative analysis on the relationship between them using co-integration test, Granger causality test and error correction model. The results show that there is a long-term equilibrium relationship the urbanization and industrial structure evolution in Jilin Province with a short-term backward error correction mechanism. The influence of industrial structure on urbanization of short-term elasticity is less than that of the long-term elasticity; the function of the tertiary industry in promoting population urbanization is better than that of the secondary industry; the development of the secondary and tertiary industries is the Granger cause of urbanization and driving effect of urbanization on the tertiary industry is greater than that on the secondary industry.
In European and American countries, most of the previous studies suggest that reproductive behavior has negative effects on happiness. Based on the survey data of 106 cities, this paper analyzes the relationship between reproductive behavior and happiness of the Chinese people. And the results are inconsistent with those of the previous studies. In general，the effect of the number of children on happiness is nonlinear; children’s gender and birth order of gender affect parents’ happiness; policy-breaching childbearing does not increase happiness; and the reproductive behavior may have different effects on happiness among people of different genders, marital status, household types, income levels, ages and other characteristics. Further studies find that the influence of reproductive behavior on happiness is significant in both statistical and practical sense. The article’s policy implication is that “two-child” policy will help improve the overall level of happiness. However, completely autonomous reproductive behavior may reduce happiness; the positive effect of reproductive behavior on happiness can be indirectly promoted by promoting gender equality, narrowing the income gap, and the urbanization process; and special population such as “shidu” families (couples who lost their only child) should be given institutional supports.
Based on the survey data of Rural-Urban Migration in China in 2008，this paper analyzes the effect of the general and specific training length on the income of migrant workers using generalized propensity score. The results show that both general training and specific training help improve the income level of migrant workers. The marginal effect on the income of migrant workers diminishes with the extension of training length. The income level of migrant workers who receive general training for less than 30 days or specific training for less than 120 days will be significantly improved with the extension of training length, while there will not be a further improvement of income level when receiving general or specific training for more than 30 days or more than 120 days. Therefore, the government and enterprises should enlarge the coverage of training project for migrant workers and adjust the training length appropriately, which will help significantly increase the whole migrant workers’ income level.
Based on 2011 Chinese Social Survey (CSS) data，this thesis compare the wage differential between informal employment and formal employment via propensity score matching method to clarify the contradiction in existing theories. The research demonstrates the hourly income and monthly income of informal employment are not significantly lower than those of formal employment overall. However，the thesis finds heterogeneity in informal employment. For instance, the income of informal wage earner, especially women, is significantly lower than that of formal wage earner due to the absence of formal institutional protection while the hourly income and monthly income of the informal self-employed are significantly higher than those of formal employment. Additionally, the income advantage of the self-employed is magnified in the unfavorable institutional environment. Consequently, dualism theory and neo-liberalism are suitable for informal wage earner and the self-employed respectively. This paper holds that both theories are in pursuit of formal institution characterized by high efficiency, probity and good governance. For the self-employed, the government should continue to streamline administration and delegate more powers to the lower-level governments, improve governance performance and lower the institutional cost for the self-employed to participate in formal economic activities.
The life experiences has a profound impact on the living situation of the elderly at their senectitude. Due to major changes on the life course, the older persons have become a high-risk social group of social isolation. The study found that in China, social isolation proportion of the urban elderly is 21.4%. Different life events will exert different impacts on the social isolation of urban elderly. The negative effects of the events may increase the risk of social isolation of the urban elderly. These events include depression, bereavement, losing activities of daily living (ADL), living alone. While three positive effects including an education level of junior high school and above, foster removedly and social participation would reduce the risk of social isolation of the urban elderly. In individual characteristics including females, aged 70 and above and economic difficulties will increase the social isolation risk of the urban elderly. In these variables, the ranking of factors with the greatest impact is as follows: living alone, aged 80 and above, females, with an education level of primary and below, and no social participation activities.
