生存工资、超时劳动与中国经济的可持续发展

A Living Wage , Overtime Work and China's Economic Sustainability

本文首次估计了中国的生存工资水平。通过生存工资和实际工资的比较,本文发现长期以来中国私有企业工人工资远低于生存工资水平,劳动力再生产的成本在相当程度上由劳动者自身承担。因此,工资过低和劳动超时成为私有经济发展模式的双生儿,不仅导致私有企业赢利能力虚高,而且限制了整体经济内需的扩大和经济增长方式的转变。本文认为,私有企业承担社会欠账后,其实际赢利能力将显著低于国有企业,部分私有企业将不得不在市场机制中遭到淘汰;同时,工人工资达到生存工资水平每年将会创造3%～5%的GDP增长。

This study, for the first time, estimates the living wage rate for China. We find that China＇s private enterprises have not paid their employees living wages, which implies workers have to bear the cost of labor reproduction to a large extent. We argue this cost is the social debt that China＇s private enterprises owe their workers. The problems of underpayment and overwork, integral to the rise of China＇s private sector, are intertwined. As a result, the profitability of private enterprises is inflated; meanwhile, domestic demand stagnates, inhibiting the transition to a sustainable model. Our findings also highlight the private sector is much less profitable than the state-owned sector if the social debts are taken into account. In addition, raising wage level to the living wage rate will add to GDP by at least three to five percentages.