ABSTRACT
In recent years, with the development of China’s society and economy, an emerging social class—the middle-income group—has gradually grown and become the backbone for maintaining social stability and promoting social development. This chapter analyzes the occupational characteristics of the middle-income group in China from the perspectives of employment status, occupation, work unit type and occupational stability by using data from Shanghai University’s “Survey on Living Conditions of Megacities”. It discusses the relationship between the occupational characteristics of the middle-income group and China’s socio-economic structure. In the occupational distribution of the middle-income group in Chinese megacities, the top three values for both quantity and proportion are represented by industrialized professional technicians, commercial production staff, and the personnel and related staff necessary for the development of bureaucratic organizations. In addition, from the perspective of employment channels, the proportion of middle-income people seeking employment through planned job assignment channels is very low.
