Challenges in retraining workers laid-off by state-owned enterprises in China: findings from a field inquiry
Document Type
Journal Article
Faculty
Faculty of Computing, Health and Science
School
School of Business
RAS ID
14504
Abstract
This article addresses one of the many sensitive and challenging problems generated by China's era of reform and economic growth: the need to retrain or educate laid-off (displaced) workers from state owned enterprises (SOEs). It does so to provide valuable insight for those responsible for the changes associated with the move to the current market economy, necessitating the retraining of large numbers of their population in a short period of time. Had this been achieved, it would have been an extraordinary accomplishment. It was not. The programs ran into at least one fundamental obstacle: laid-off workers overwhelmingly were not participating in them. Both Chinese training officials and scholars have asserted that the problem was a lack of the 'right mentality' among laid-off workers. However, this article reports data collected from interviews with laid-off workers in Zhangjiakou city, China which challenges that conventional wisdom.
DOI
10.1080/13636820.2012.691533
Access Rights
subscription content
Comments
Wang, B., Lewis, R., & Greenwood, K. M. (2012). Challenges in retraining workers laid-off by state-owned enterprises in China: findings from a field inquiry. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 64(3), 279-293. Available here