The Chinese Labor Force
January 29th, 2007
Submitted By: Joe Callinan
There are 1.3 billion people in China and that number is expected to increase by 300 million over the next 25 years. Many of these Chinese are uneducated, poor and as the last few posts have mentioned, without health insurance. They are employed at unbelievably low rates that barely allow them to survive. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the Chinese government has recently begun encouraging its domestic companies to move towards mechanization by offering tax breaks for the purchase of domestically manufactured production lines. This mechanization will result in fewer jobs for an increasing number of people which will most likely result in an increase in the income gap between the rich and the poor and social unrest.
While you read this article posted in the China Daily here are a few questions to think about:
What can China do to prevent a social uprising?
Is the Chinese government responsible for improving the scientific literacy of the poor and the farmers?
How does this article relate to the Professor Ramezani’s presentation on Chinese financial markets?
As Chinese companies search for more skilled workers, would you consider working in China? Will Chinese companies look to other countries to fulfill these positions or will they limit their search to the domestic market?
What country will be the next big provider of cheap labor?
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, China, Misc.
2 Comments Add your own
1. Chris Carr | January 29th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Good post.
My bet is on Vietnam as the next country where cheap labor will move.
This article ties into what Prof. Ramezani said about labor and technology moving in a number of ways. As just one example, yes, people in China, and a lot of them, will be displaced as things become more mechanized, but what is “supposed” to happen is that they develop new, other skills that will move them to better jobs, and China, up the technology ladder and China in turn produces more high end goods such as top notch cars rather than cheap watches and neckties.
This was the pattern in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The difference, of course is that China has to do this with roughly 200 to 400 million people/workers (depending on whose head count you believe). I am glad I am not the government official in Beijing who has to make this happen. He/she surely has or will have the mother of all ulcers.
And yes, I would live and work in China in a heartbeat.
2. Adib Assassi | February 11th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
I think that one fact that may get lost in the mechanization process is that the majority of the jobs that are being lost are menial. By this I mean that it is most likely the simple, basic and repetitive type jobs that are being lost. Nevertheless, they are jobs. I believe that this will slowly begin to change as the education level rises.
So many people in China currently have only a basic education. Consequently, they have no choice but to take these simple jobs. The reason that so many people are uneducated, I believe, is that China has been playing catch-up with the west for the past decades. However, now China has closed the gap, and it is now beginning, as the article states, to invest in educational programs. And it won’t be just for farmers. I’m sure that China will begin to invest in overall public education across the nation.
As the education level slowly rises, people will not find themselves out of work, nor will they find themselves being replaced by machines. I think that this is an investment that the Chinese government must and will make. The higher the education rate, the more this will benefit the nation as a whole. It is the government’s responsibility to provide means of education for its people. If China does not do this, then I believe its growth will start to decline. Currently, China can produce so much do to the massive population of workers that it has which other nations don’t. If all these workers remain uneducated, then most certainly their tasks will ultimately be replaced by machines.
I think this is a great opportunity for skilled and specialized foreigners to find jobs in China. Companies can hire them and bring them in to China in order to train and teach the Chinese people what they know from their experiences in their industries. I don’t think there is a need to panic that Chinese jobs will be lost. As China begins to emphasize and invest in education, people will have new opportunities and will find new jobs.
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