From formal- to informal-sector employment: examining the Chinese presence in Zambia
From formal- to informal-sector employment: examining the Chinese presence in Zambia
复制标题
DOI：
10.1080/03056241003637904
复制
发表时间：
2010-03
影响因子：
1.3
通讯作者：
Aleksandra W. Gadzala
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Aleksandra W. Gadzala
本文分析了中国最近与赞比亚的接触，特别考察了中国的雇佣做法、商业组织方法以及中国经营的建筑和采矿公司所维持的劳动条件。本研究超越了仅关注中国贸易、援助和投资的现有分析，开始探讨中国企业的微观层面，认为中国企业持续雇用外国人以及中国企业普遍不合格的劳动条件导致赞比亚工人转入该国蓬勃发展的非正规经济。在那里，新兴的中国企业将对缺乏必要资源来抵御中国竞争的当地企业家构成威胁。其结果是全国失业率迅速上升，越来越多的赞比亚人难以维持生计。本文进一步认为，中国与赞比亚交往的特征不仅是赞比亚特有的，而且是海外中国企业普遍存在的特征。该文件最终呼吁建立一个规范中国在赞比亚商业活动的政策框架，以免中赞伙伴关系产生负面后果。
This paper analyses China's recent engagement with Zambia, examining especially Chinese hiring practices, methods of business organisation and the labour conditions maintained by Chinese-operated construction and mining firms. Moving beyond existing analyses which remain focused solely on Chinese trade, aid and investment, this study begins to explore the micro-level of Chinese ventures, arguing that the continued employment of co-nationals as well as the generally substandard labour conditions maintained by Chinese firms lead to the offloading of Zambian workers into the country's burgeoning informal economy. There, newly emerged Chinese businesses stand to threaten local entrepreneurs who lack the resources necessary to parry Chinese competition. The result is a rapidly growing national unemployment rate and an increasing number of Zambians left struggling to sustain their livelihoods. This paper further argues that the characteristics defining China's engagement with Zambia are not particular to the Zambian context alone, but are rather abiding characteristics of overseas Chinese businesses in general. The paper ultimately calls for a policy framework regulating Chinese business activities in Zambia, lest the negative consequences of the Sino-Zambian partnership prevail.