Thursday 10 September 2009


CHINA LOSING GLOBAL LABOR ADVANTAGE

China Daily, September 10, 2009

China is losing its edge in the worldwide labor market as it will suffer a shortage of laborers due to the family planning policy, a think-tank said yesterday in a report.
China needs to put more emphasis on education, both in cities and rural areas, to cope with its rising labor challenges, the report said.

The move to improve China's global labor competitiveness is urgent because the country is losing its edge in the worldwide labor market, with fewer workers in the labor pool.

Also, the country will continue to upgrade its manufacturing-oriented economy, requiring more skilled and educated workers, according to the report.

"China is gradually losing its labor surplus, which has created the country's success story in the past 30 years," said Wang Dewen, professor of the Institute of Population and Labor Economics, of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the publisher of the yearly report.

“But now it needs a second labor advantage," he said. "And that is the improvement of labor skills and their level of education," Wang said.

The average student in the countryside attends school only 6.8 years, despite the country's mandate for a nine-year compulsory education.

The report found that a rural resident who finishes senior high school will have a higher productivity rate - 21.1 percent - compared to 8.8 percent for those who only finish lower levels of education.

In the city, the government should encourage more residents to receive more education after high school, said the report. Those with further education earn at least 29 percent more.

The current average time for schooling is 9.5 years.

(...) [artículo aquí]

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