Analysis On The Present Situation And Operation Mechanism Of Informal Employment In Rural Areas

Informal employment widely exists in towns and rural areas of developing countries,and its large-scale expansion in China is closely related to the adjustment of ownership structure and the dual division of labor market since China’s reform and opening up.As far as the farmers in the central and western regions are concerned,rural informal employment is the most important employment channel and an important force for farmers and their families to achieve their survival and development goals.However,most of the researchers have used pen and ink in the study of informal employment in cities and towns,but lack of sociological analysis of informal employment in rural areas.Taking rural society as the analysis background,taking Chongqing Ping Le town as the research site,and from the perspective of farmers’ individual and family,social capital,this paper adopts questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview to collect data,so as to gain an exploratory and comprehensive understanding of the present situation of rural informal employment and its operation mechanism.The conclusions of this paper are as follows: In terms of the present situation of rural informal employment,the basic characteristics and family livelihood patterns of rural informal employment are analyzed from the perspective of individuals and families.As far as the basic situation is concerned,the rural informal workers in Ping Le town are mostly between 40 and 55 years old,and their education level is mainly in junior middle schools and primary schools,and so on.In terms of employment situation,informal rural workers in Ping Le town mainly get job information through introduction of social relations,and their employment patterns are self-employed,showing the characteristics of low security,low welfare and short working period.In the aspect of family livelihood mode,the nuclear family and the three generations of families of rural informal workers show the mode of part-time work and part-time farming based on gender division of labor and intergenerational division of labor respectively.As for the operational mechanism of rural informal employment,this paper borrows Putnam’s definition of social capital,and makes an investigation from three aspects: rural social network,rural social trust and rural social norms.Generally speaking,rural social network plays an important role in promoting the emergence and development of rural informal employment.The primary relationship based on consanguinity and geographical relationship and the secondary relationship based on business relationship can provide assistance in business source,financial support and relationship expansion for the employed,so that the informal employment in rural areas can successfully land and develop.Rural social trust promotes the healthy operation and scale expansion of rural informal employment;Among them,in the initial stage of employment,the trust mechanism based on relationship plays a leading role,while in the later stage of career development,the trust mechanism based on reputation plays a major role.Finally,the rural social norms based on public opinion control and reputation evaluation play the role of "firewall",which plays an invisible role in regulating and supervising the employees’ employment behavior,thus promoting the normal operation of rural informal employment.