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Abstract
The rise of China as the world factory in the last few decades has been accompanied by a rapid expansion in vocational education. A growing number of youth from rural backgrounds now have the chance to receive post-compulsory education in vocational training schools. Using human capital theory as an analytical focus, this study examines their strong desire to acquire educational credentials and explores the stress and frustration they experience after finding out that graduates in vocational schools are sent to factories to work as cheap labourers. This article argues that reform of the educational system in post-reform China has channelled a large group of rural youth to vocational education without granting them enough chance of upward mobility. When China relies heavily on a labour-intensive manufacturing economy to secure its place in neoliberal globalization, most of the jobs available are regarded as ‘undesirable’, dead-end and low income. Returns of human capital investment among rural youth are not guaranteed.
Acknowledgment
The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: ‘Vocational Education and Social Mobility of Migrant Youth in China’ [PolyU 5440/12H].
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. The minimum wage in Chongqing was 1050 RMB in 2013. Formal workers in factories, who take up over 100 h of overtime, would receive more than 2000 RMB per month.