Employer-provided housing and upskilling: evidence from Japanese manufacturing plants in China

This study investigates employer-provided housing (EPH) in the contested process of workforce upskilling in global production networks (GPNs). Drawing on the concept of the Dormitory Labour Regime (DLR) (Smith, 2003; Smith & Pun, 2006; Pun, 2007; Pun & Smith, 2007), EPH is conceptualised as a spatial extension of struggles over skill regeneration embedded in broader social institutions. The analysis focuses on China’s manufacturing sector, where the shift towards higher value-added production in GPNs pressurises both employers and workers to invest in upskilling (Wang, 2023). Rising urban living costs and changing aspirations among younger migrant workers (Ling, 2015) have given rise to the material and social relevance of EPH to access to training, skill recognition and career mobility opportunities. The research adopts a comparative case study approach of four Japanese-invested manufacturing plants in Eastern China. With its focus on skill regeneration, this study extends the analytical scope of DLR. The empirical findings demonstrate variegated EPH practices that reflect the negotiated processes of upskilling embedded in local labour market institutions.