“Transgration” of Chinese Seafarers in Economic Transition: An institutional perspective on labour mobility

The term transgration refers to a labour “movement” across institutional boundaries. This is particularly true for transition economies like China where the majority of its labour forces are subject to be redistributed as part of the adjustment or reconstruction of economic structure from planned to market economy. In front of increasing challenges and uncertainties, different people may have different coping strategies resulting in various mobility models. Alongside spatially “migration” or temporally “circulation”, transgration is a labour mobility model which is used by those who may play multiple roles to different sectors/employers in the same time until their role definition, employment objective or career route are clarified. Transgration does not only represent the process, stage and consequences of the institutional transition, but also provides opportunities for massive labour forces to participate in and contribute to the new institutions. Transgration can be illustrated by the case of Chinese seafarers. Whilst the establishment of global labour markets makes it possible for them to flow between ‘national’ and ‘foreign’ ships, the process is driven by both the pressure of seafarer surplus in the state owned enterprises (SOE) and the liberality of seafarer flow. The implications of transgration can be revealed from two aspects. On the one hand, Chinese seafarers are no longer homogeneous but can be distinguished into three groups: traditional seafarers who prefer or depend upon traditional employment systems; transgrant who are intermediate and moveable across sectors; and pioneer, who are first ‘residents’ in new systems and won’t return to old systems. One the other hand, transgration is not merely personal behaviour and selection, but an important indicator reflecting the development and maturity of China’s labour market. In order to understand the existence and functions of the transgration, an empirical survey was conducted in the port of Hong Kong in the winter of 2002/2003. By analysing the quantitative and qualitative information from over 500 seafarers, this paper offers insights into the extent, characteristics, dynamics and trends of the transgration.