Fewer workers; higher pay
Blanca Facundo sent me a Washington Post article about population projections in China. [Thank you very much.] And this morning I find a New York Times article about rising wages in China. Do these trends help explain why a major manufacturer of compact florescent lightbulbs (CFLs) is considering moving some of its production from Zhengjiang to Cleveland, Ohio? What else do those trends mean for governance in China?China’s workforce is expected to start shrinking in next few years
In a shift that is intensifying the economic competition between China and the United States, China’s working-age population has plateaued in size and will begin getting smaller sometime in the next five years…
The shift has… prompted a national push to develop technology- and innovation-driven industries that need fewer workers — industries in which the United States has traditionally held an advantage. Instead of the “cheap” China of the past 30 years, U.S. business and government officials face a country that is demographically stagnant, increasingly expensive and pressing hard to compete…
As China’s Workers Get a Raise, Companies Fret
Wages are surging this year in China and among its main low-wage Asian rivals, benefiting workers across the region. But the increases confront trading companies and Western retailers with cost increases and are making higher prices likely for American and European consumers...
Rising wages and strengthening currencies in Asia are making it less attractive to move higher-value industries like auto manufacturing out of the West. But little mentioned by almost anyone making or trading consumer goods in Asia these days is the possibility of moving these relatively labor-intensive manufacturing industries back to the United States or Europe.
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Labels: China, economics, politics
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:50 AM
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