走出生活逆境的阴影——失业下岗职工再就业中的“人力资本失灵”研究

From Life's Adversity: Human Capital Failure ” in Re-employing Laid-off Workers in North China

本文是对失业下岗职工走出生活逆境途径的探讨。以往相关方面的研究主要是关注市场需求和制度安排对就业的影响。本文认为 ,中国改革所带来的社会变迁 ,开创了一个社会结构与个体行动互动作用的新历史 ,在对外开放扩大、市场化转型和经济高速增长的大背景下 ,面对同样的社会事件 ,人们有了更大的通过调整自己的选择来改变生活的可能性。基于 2 0 0 2年 8— 9月对辽宁省 4个资源枯竭型城市约 10 0 0个样本下岗职工的抽样调查 ,作者发现 ,与一般的常规推论相反 ,在下岗职工的收入决定、阶层认同和社会态度等方面 ,存在着“人力资本失灵”现象 ,即下岗职工以往的人力资本积累对提高其收入水平和促进社会态度的理性化不再发挥作用。这是因为随着市场的知识需求和职业结构的变化 ,下岗职工人力资本积累过程发生了断裂。所以 ,相应的政策建议是 ,在千方百计创造更多就业机会的同时 ,要特别注重对下岗职工转业转岗的培训 ,以增强其在就业市场上的选择能力 ,帮助他们走出生活逆境的阴影。

This paper examines approaches to helping laid-off workers overcome adversity. P revious studies have focused on the effects of market demand and institutional a rrangements. We argue that the increasing opening-up and market-oriented trans fo rmation, plus rapid economic growth, have provided more opportunities for people to adapt themselves to changes in the new reform period with interactions betwe en social structure and individual choice. Based on a survey sample during Augus t and September of 2002 of 1,000 laid-off workers in 4 cities in Liaoning provi n ce, where resources have been exhausted, we find that, contrary to our hypothesi s, laid-off workers suffered from “human capital failure” in terms of income dec ision, class identification and social attitudes. In other words, their accumula ted human capital (education, technical identity, work experience) no longer pla ys a role in improving their income level and rationalizing their social attitud es. This is mainly due to the rupture of their human capital accumulation and th e changing occupational structure and market demands for knowledge. Therefore, a side from more job opportunities, policies should be made to provide more traini ng courses to prepare laid-off workers for new posts in new trades, and to equi p them for more choices in the market and help them overcome adversity.