Carl Lin came to Carleton on Jan. 27 to discuss minimum wages and inequality in China in a presentation hosted by the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.
Lin is an assistant economics professor at Beijing Normal University and a research fellow at the China Institute for Income Distribution. Lin spoke about the widening disparities and increased social tensions that have occurred as a result of the sustained economic growth that China has achieved.
“China is changing very quickly, socially, and economically. The Chinese governments at central and local levels have introduced many different policies, regulations, and interventions in the labour market,” Lin said.
Lin chose to focus on the positive and negative effects of the movement towards an increased minimum wage in China’s 31 provinces.
“While a rise in minimum wage can be beneficial for workers, it can also be counterproductive. As soon as the minimum wage goes up, a lot of people lose their jobs. The large majority of these people are women and youth between the ages of 16-20,” he said.
Edgar Rodriguez, a senior program specialist at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and organizer of the presentation described the importance of making Lin’s research well-recognized.
“We have a grant for Beijing Normal University to study minimum wage policies in China. We have over 10 research papers as part of the project and we have one year to go. We’re very excited as we believe that this essential information for policy makers throughout the world,” Rodriguez said.
Lin concluded his presentation with a strong call to action.
“Minimum wage is a controversial policy subject and this is exactly why we should be talking about it. We have to talk about the instability that millions of women and youth in China are facing because of minimum wage increases. The workers who face the most instability are those in hotels, restaurants, retail, and housekeeping,” Lin said.
Zhen Jiang Lin, a Ph.D student in his last year at Carleton, praised the presentation and described how important of a subject it was for students to know about.
“It’s a very interesting topic and something that students in every program should be aware of,” he said. “It’s important to compare and contrast minimum wage changes in China and Canada so we can understand our economy. The young people that are being impacted by this are the same people that are going to be making our policies in the future.”
