Lost in Transformation? The Employment Trajectories of China’s Cultural Revolution Cohort

This article aims to uncover major career trajectories among one particular cohort of Chinese urban residents whose transition to adulthood was greatly disrupted by the Cultural Revolution. Based on the career histories of respondents from a subsample of the 2003 China’s General Social Survey, and with the adoption of the optimal matching and cluster analysis techniques, the analysis reveals a four-cluster typology for career sequences of this cohort from their first employment to the labor market status in the 25th year since first entry. The preservation of the temporal order of career events helps to define a discernible career pathway type for each cluster. A multinomial logistic regression explains how cluster membership relates to a string of background characteristics, specifically showing that the state-initiated rustication experience in youthhood and family resources impacted the Cultural Revolution cohort’s labor market prospects after the economic transformation.