ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the national context within which employers' associations are engaged with government, help member enterprises, and are involved in policy and legislation on labour laws, industrial planning and workforce development. It also provides an overview of the national context offers an understanding of the structure and strategies of the associations' peak body. The chapter assesses the scope and level of influence the employers' associations have on employment, economic and industrial development, and IR systems in China. It investigates the role and functions of employers' associations under the economic transformation in China. In recent years, the employers' associations in China have experienced some radical changes, as well as gradually developing certain trends by following the development of market-oriented economic reforms. By adopting market-oriented economic reforms and the concept of the 'rule of law', China has changed from a communist planning economy into a market-oriented economy with 'Chinese characteristics'.
