The Formation and Reproduction of Wage Back-Payment Mechanism in Chinese Construction Industry

建筑业农民工长年被拖欠工资的问题已成为备受关注的社会事实。本文剖析了建筑业欠薪机制的形成原因,认为转包分包制和包工头制度并不是欠薪的根源,两者只是加剧了欠薪的程度。作为现代企业制度组成部分的转包分包制,在世界其他国家的建筑业中也普遍存在,但欠薪却不普遍。本文认为始于计划经济时期的建筑业欠薪支付,是农村人民公社的工分制在建筑行业中的延续,社会主义集体农民的惯习和城乡分割制度是欠薪形成的必要条件。尽管改革开放后建筑业体制发生巨大变化,但是建筑业对农民工的使用方式和欠薪支付方式却全部被保留下来。农民工不变的身份和城乡差别是这一传统能够与建筑业的现代企业制度对接的必备条件。欠薪支付顺应了市场和资本的要求,并且在建筑业实行独立核算、自负盈亏和转分包制后被进一步强化。

This article argues that delayed wage payment in the construction industry, previously understood as a result of subcontracting relations occurred in the reform era，is actually a remnant of the commune point system． As such，it recalls collective production practices under socialism，and plays a constituent part in the maintenance of the rural-urban divide． Although other features of the construction industry have been significantly transformed in the reform era，the wage payment system has been preserved intact． A modern-day anachronism as it is，delayed wage payment is preserved in the construction industry due to the rural-urban divide's preservation of the socialist peasant habitus． In the reform era，the preservation of delayed wage payment serves the needs of capital and market，allows the construction industry fiscal autonomy，and moreover represents a hyper-intensified form of subcontracting．

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