Economic reform, education expansion, and earnings inequality for urban males in China, 1988-2009

► In the past 20 years the average real earnings of Chinese urban male workers have increased by 350%. ► In the same period the variance of log earnings increased from 0.28 to 0.54, a 94% increase. ► The main change in inequality occurred in the 1990s due largely to the labor market reform. ► The 2000s saw a slowdown in the reward to both observed and unobserved skills due to the college expansion in 1999.