The enactment of three new labour laws in China: Unintended consequences and the emergence of ‘new’ actors in employment relations

This paper critically analyses the background and impacts of the promulgation of three new labour laws in China in 2008. Drawing on qualitative data collected from interviews with various actors, the paper illustrates how the enactment of these laws has led to the emergence of new actors in the labour market and employment relations. Whilst not all these actors are new, or equally influential, in the governance of the labour market and employment relations, the enactment of the new labour legislation has introduced new dynamics in the evolving role of these actors. The paper concludes that whilst the new laws signal a significant advancement in China’s employment legislative domain, the legislative power of the state has been undermined by institutional actors at the local level, who interact and permeate each other’s sites and spatial boundaries in acknowledgement of and to complement each other’s resource/capacity constraints.