Wednesday, January 19, 2005
[IWS] BLS: CHINA MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT & COMPENSATION [Online January 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT AND COMPENSATION IN CHINA
By Judith Banister
Beijing Javelin Investment Consulting Company
December 2004
http://www.bls.gov/fls/chinareport.pdf
[full-text, 90 pages]
[excerpts]
This report demonstrates that manufacturing employment in China increased
during the 1980s and early 1990s, peaked in about 1995-1996, declined during the late
1990s until 2000-2001, and increased again in 2002. The genuine declines in PRC
manufacturing employment in the late 1990s were caused by restructuring and
privatization of state-owned and urban collective-owned factories in the cities, which
brought about massive layoffs of urban manufacturing workers and sharp increases in
manufacturing labor productivity. Private sector manufacturing has thrived in both urban
and rural areas in the late 1990s and the early 21st century. These factories are more
productive than state-owned and collective-owned factories and are competitive in the
domestic and global economies. The renewed increase in PRC manufacturing
employment that began in 2002 or before is fueled by private corporations and
businesses, both foreign-funded and domestically-owned.
As demonstrated in this paper, the numbers published in the global and U.S.
popular media on the low compensation of China's manufacturing workers are in the
ballpark of reasonable estimates. The author discusses factors that make China especially
competitive in manufacturing for the global market, and some factors that are reducing
and hampering China's competitiveness. The PRC is indeed an extremely low-wage
manufacturing environment, and China also benefits from other advantages that give this
country a competitive edge over many other possible manufacturing locations around the
world, including low land prices, big concentrations of low-cost parts suppliers, a
relatively stable and safe political situation, tax and regulatory policies that promote
foreign direct investment in PRC manufacturing, and China's own huge potential and
actual domestic market for manufactured goods.
The report can also be found via the Foreign Labor Statistics Homepage at the BLS site -- http://www.bls.gov/fls/
This report, prepared by Judith Banister under contract to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was commissioned by BLS in order to assess the quality and usability of the official data that are available from China on manufacturing employment and compensation. Because of concerns about the quality of the available data, BLS does not plan to include China in its comparative foreign labor statistics program at this time; however, further research is underway. Please note: The opinions, analysis, and conclusions expressed in the report are solely those of the author.
A previous draft of this report was provided to BLS in October 2004 and was discussed at a November 8, 2004 seminar held at BLS in Washington, DC.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky *
Director, IWS News Bureau *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor *
New York, NY 10016 *
*
Telephone: (607) 255-2703 *
Fax: (607) 255-9641 *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu *
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT AND COMPENSATION IN CHINA
By Judith Banister
Beijing Javelin Investment Consulting Company
December 2004
http://www.bls.gov/fls/chinareport.pdf
[full-text, 90 pages]
[excerpts]
This report demonstrates that manufacturing employment in China increased
during the 1980s and early 1990s, peaked in about 1995-1996, declined during the late
1990s until 2000-2001, and increased again in 2002. The genuine declines in PRC
manufacturing employment in the late 1990s were caused by restructuring and
privatization of state-owned and urban collective-owned factories in the cities, which
brought about massive layoffs of urban manufacturing workers and sharp increases in
manufacturing labor productivity. Private sector manufacturing has thrived in both urban
and rural areas in the late 1990s and the early 21st century. These factories are more
productive than state-owned and collective-owned factories and are competitive in the
domestic and global economies. The renewed increase in PRC manufacturing
employment that began in 2002 or before is fueled by private corporations and
businesses, both foreign-funded and domestically-owned.
As demonstrated in this paper, the numbers published in the global and U.S.
popular media on the low compensation of China's manufacturing workers are in the
ballpark of reasonable estimates. The author discusses factors that make China especially
competitive in manufacturing for the global market, and some factors that are reducing
and hampering China's competitiveness. The PRC is indeed an extremely low-wage
manufacturing environment, and China also benefits from other advantages that give this
country a competitive edge over many other possible manufacturing locations around the
world, including low land prices, big concentrations of low-cost parts suppliers, a
relatively stable and safe political situation, tax and regulatory policies that promote
foreign direct investment in PRC manufacturing, and China's own huge potential and
actual domestic market for manufactured goods.
The report can also be found via the Foreign Labor Statistics Homepage at the BLS site -- http://www.bls.gov/fls/
This report, prepared by Judith Banister under contract to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was commissioned by BLS in order to assess the quality and usability of the official data that are available from China on manufacturing employment and compensation. Because of concerns about the quality of the available data, BLS does not plan to include China in its comparative foreign labor statistics program at this time; however, further research is underway. Please note: The opinions, analysis, and conclusions expressed in the report are solely those of the author.
A previous draft of this report was provided to BLS in October 2004 and was discussed at a November 8, 2004 seminar held at BLS in Washington, DC.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 1:55 PM
