The great fall

tauringhuang.

Sep 5th 2008
From Economist.com

Is China's pool of surplus labour drying up?


A SEEMINGLY unlimited supply of labour has been one of the main forces behind China's rapid economic growth. But factory bosses have recently complained of labour shortages and wages have been rising more rapidly, leading some to conclude that China's “surplus” labour has been used up. The country's one-child policy, introduced in 1979, has caused the growth in its labour supply to slow sharply. The growth in the working-age population is expected to drop from an annual rate of 1.3% in 2005 to 0.1% by 2015. At the same time, the migration of workers from agriculture to industry will slow. In addition, the population is ageing, and there will be fewer of the young, single workers who are preferred by many industries.