從1990年代後期開始，中共加速了對於國有企業的改革，大量國有企業工人被迫「下崗」—離開工作崗位，但仍然與企業維持某些關係，隔了一段時間後才正式成為失業者。中共採取這種溫和的方式讓國有企業工人離職，最終目的是希望能順利建立起一個配合市場經濟運作的勞動力市場。中國大陸對於國有企業所進行的改革，從資本主義發展的角度來看具有雙重意義：（一）下崗職工成為「自由勞動力」，有助於資本主義勞動力市場的形成，使資本獲得大量的廉價勞動力。（二）國有資產「化公為私」淪入少數人手中，達到財富集中的目的，創造一個資本家階級出現。本文是從中國大陸資本主義發展的途徑來探討國家在國有企業改革及勞動力市場建立過程中的角色，進而分析這些擁有鐵飯碗的國有企業工人的保障如何被打破，最終淪為受僱者階級。本文最後將指出，由於中國大陸勞工目前還不被允許成立自主性的組織，以致所建立起來的勞動力市場是非常不利於勞工的。

As China began speeding up the reform of state-owned enterprises since the latter period of the 1990s, a large number of workers in state-own sector were laid off. They were forced to leave their jobs but maintain certain ties with the enterprises for a period, and only after some time did they become officially unemployed. With this moderated method, Chinese government intends to smoothly eliminate state enterprise jobs, and ultimately established a commodified labor market compatible with the Chinese market economy. From the perspective of capitalist development, the Chinese attempt to “reform” the state enterprises are instrumental in the following two aspects: (1) Lay-off workers became “free” labor force, which helps the forming of a labor force for capitalistic market by providing the capitalists with ample supply of cheap labor; (2) Through privatization, state-owned assets fell into the hands of a small group of people, and the resulting concentration of wealth creates a capitalist class. This article analyses the role played by the state in the reform process of the state-owned enterprises and in the development of a capitalist market economy in China, with special attention on how it was able to dissolve previous protections for state-enterprise workers and to transform them into wage laborers. It is argued that in the absence of independent labor organizations, such a process of establishing labor market is bound to bring adverse effects to the workers.