Meaning of 打工

[Mugi]

I noticed the following comment in the 打工皇帝 thread:

"打工 doesn't imply to work as a part time worker. All employees earn their money by 打工"

Assuming this is correct, it represents an interesting semantic shift - in the mid 1990s in mainland China 打工 referred specifically to part-time or temporary work, not to full-time employment. At least that was how the word was used in standard Mandarin. I suspect that the meaning has always been broader/different in Cantonese (the image that comes to mind when I hear 打工 in Cantonese is of manual labour) and so perhaps was/is used differently in Mandarin in Guangdong.

Does 打工 now simply refer to any work whatsoever? Or are there still some regional differences?

Edited July 5, 2010 at 08:01 AM by roddy
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[sebhk]

As far as I know, 打工 refers either to manual labour or entry-level professional employment in Cantonese. For example 打工仔 / 打工妹 can mean junior employee.

[doraemon]

I'm quite sure it still means 'part-time' work in Mandarin nowadays as well, I hear it used everywhere. It can also refer to doing work that is manual and doesn't require as much professional skills, like working in factories and so on.

[dumdumdum]

should be low-level/entry-level employee or clerks, or labour jobs like factory workers etc, as opposed to 'the boss'. dont think it means 'part time' when first used in cantonese. more like a fixed working hours with fixed salary. temp job should be like '钟点工', paid by hourly rates.