Occupational diversity in Chinese cities: facts, evolution and policy implications

Abstract

Measuring the occupational diversity and trend of Chinese cities from the perspective of the distribution of urban occupational types, and discussing the impact of urban characteristics on urban occupational diversity can provide reference for guiding urban full and high-quality employment. By using the improved Herfindahl index, panel data fixed effect model and Oaxaca blinder decomposition, it is found that the occupational diversity in Chinese cities showed a trend of first decreasing and then increasing from 2002 to 2016, which was due to the adjustment of urban industrial structure and the emergence of new economy after the financial crisis; at the same time, the larger the city, the higher the administrative level and the more developed the economy, the higher the degree of occupational diversity. The conclusion of the study is helpful to intuitively understand the occupational distribution, industrial structure and division of labor in different cities, evaluate the human resource structure and economic development potential of cities, and then provide policy suggestions for different cities to formulate industrial development and human resource planning.