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China To Add More than 50 Million New Urban Jobs in 2016-2020 (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the fixing-economy dept.

China is striving to create more than 50 million new jobs in urban areas over the five years to 2020, the cabinet said in an employment promotion plan on Monday. From a report on Reuters: It will also aim to hold the urban registered unemployment rate below 5 percent in the same period, according to the document published on the central government's website. "Opportunities and challenges in promoting employment coexist," the cabinet said. The government has said 13 million new urban jobs were created in 2016, beating its target of 10 million. The official unemployment rate has been hovering just over 4 percent in recent years, even as China's economic growth slowed to 6.7 percent in 2016, its slowest in 26 years.

31 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Read: China to force 50 million farmers to move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They're forcibly uprooting the rural population and moving them into the cities to provide demand for the crap their factories are putting out.

    1. Re:Read: China to force 50 million farmers to move by mrclevesque · · Score: 1

      From NYT's the article:

      "China calls them “ecological migrants”: 329,000 people whom the government had relocated from lands distressed by climate change, industrialization, poor policies and human activity to 161 hastily built villages. They were the fifth wave in an environmental and poverty alleviation program that has resettled 1.14 million residents of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a territory of dunes and mosques and camels along the ancient Silk Road."

  2. Nothing bad ever happened with a 5 year plan by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Funny

    Happy to hear they're sticking to regular 5-year plans. Those have always turned out well.

    1. Re:Nothing bad ever happened with a 5 year plan by crimson+tsunami · · Score: 1

      Much better to go with America's 4 year plan.
      Wait that should be next quarters plan.
      Or now Trump's no plan.

  3. The thing is by fubarrr · · Score: 2

    >The official unemployment rate has been hovering just over 4 percent in recent years, even as China's economic growth slowed to 6.7 percent in 2016, its slowest in 26 years.

    The thing is that they don't have much young people to man factories, and they have to many Harward PhDs.

    1. Re:The thing is by butzwonker · · Score: 1

      ...unlike the US, who do not have nearly enough Harward PhDs to run all their factories, let alone people who can spell the names of their prestigious universities correctly.

    2. Re:The thing is by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      They've already started to automate, so it's pretty unlikely that they'll have that problem for much longer. Unless Chinese robots are cheaper than U.S. robots, we should probably invest more heavily in our own robotic manufacturing base just because when human labor is no longer a large part of the cost of the goods, China doesn't have anywhere near as much advantage.

    3. Re: The thing is by fubarrr · · Score: 1

      >China gets Harvard PhDs while america - smelly indo-chimps with "PhD" issued by stupid jungle voodoo priests.

      Man, you just got it. I can't find a any better way to tell that than this.

  4. Yeah by Ryanrule · · Score: 1

    Doing what? China is soo bubble. The local govts are just....wow.

  5. Re:Good luck breathing, poor SOB's. by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

    I think you've mistaken Trump for Hillary and the US Chamber of Progress.(Oh, meant Commerce).

    Like Trump or Not he his absolutely not for "Capitalism without boundaries"

    --
    If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
    Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
  6. A tale of two Chinas by DumbSwede · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Anything with the word China in it seems to be red-meat for the Slashdot crowd. Having actually RTFA there isn’t much in there that is different from how liberal democracies go about trying to encourage economic growth. China is mostly Communist in name, but this isn’t to say their system operates identical to ours. I have been to China seven times in the last ten years, so I can give you a reasonable impression of life there. People going about their day-to-day lives do not liver under constant fear and oppression. Life in the big cities is very modern. The country is virtually two countries in one. The modern cities and the backward villages. That said the government wields a big stick in getting big projects done (sometimes without enough forethought). I find most people fear China is going to far outstrip the west in science and economy in the not too distance future, most of the rest think it is a powder-keg about to self-destruct. Neither view is very close to the truth. As China pulls into parity with the west, it’s economy is slowing down because it no longer is leaping from behind by leveraging cheap labor and because labor is not longer staying cheap (because economic success has created a prosperous middle-class) and because automation is destroying cheap labor’s advantage anyway. China is desperate to raise everyone into the middle-class so as to sustain their economy on internal domestic consumption. So while the party is coming to a close, they still hope to get the job largely done without have two separate classes of citizens (city dwellers, versus farmers and villagers).

    --
    Letter To Iran
    1. Re: A tale of two Chinas by fubarrr · · Score: 1

      Even, if their consumption will double, tripple, or quadripple it will barely compensate for decline of global demand.

      High added value industries have small market in PRC. The yearly variance in American consumer spending is the size of the whole Chinese domestic market.

      In order to sustain itself on domestic consumtion, China needs to increase household income by 10 times. China is a high tax country, but they do really good at stimulating spending (1/4 to 1/3 of your income can be claimed in monthly tax returns)

    2. Re:A tale of two Chinas by ctilsie242 · · Score: 1

      Even though I do worry about China (and tactics they have used in the past to get businesses on their soil), China seems to have very similar problems as the US. The US is also definitely two countries in one, with the rural areas and the urban areas (and the red/blue constant squabbling because one side doesn't have a clue about what the other side's needs are.)

      I will say, there are some things China is getting "right". The idea of a middle class and not just tycoons and peasants was what allows the US to rise as a dominant world power, because it meant more people with access to not just tools and transportation, but education to make new things. Here in the US, access to education is becoming harder and harder.

      China is also doing some basic things that are lacking here in the US. They are actually laying infrastructure, and have been. In 2008 when there were deals for cars, "cash for clunkers", China took about a trillion dollars and built roads, airports, laid fiber, and are modernizing. They are evolving, and are dealing with the same smog issues that we dealt with in the 50s/60s that were issues in Pittsburgh and LA. As they move from coal/oil to solar, we will see similar things happen, with cities winding up a lot more environmentally friendly.

      My biggest fear is the "we/they" thing. A US/Sino war doesn't have to happen. Right now it doesn't seem like it, but there always can be a "Guns of August" which changes world from unease peace to a true war mentality on many fronts, similar to what happened in WW1.

    3. Re:A tale of two Chinas by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      I find most people fear China is going to far outstrip the west in science and economy in the not too distance future, most of the rest think it is a powder-keg about to self-destruct. Neither view is very close to the truth.

      Violent revolutions in China are relatively common, roughly every 100 years. There have been uprisings even recently. After the global recession of the late 2000's there were many factory worker protests due to layoffs from the slumping economy due to slower overseas exports. China launched a big infrastructure stimulus package to address it, and it mostly worked.

      They are not so tied to the philosophy of capitalism such that being thrown to the wolves during slumps is NOT acceptable to most there. In the US, there is some amount of social-darwinistic thinking that says "losers" SHOULD wither and die, in order to motivate the rest to work their tushes off so that the non-losers can have big houses with picket fences. (Some suggest this comes from protestant Calvinism that says God rewards the good people in this life and lets the bad die.)

      And don't forget Tienanmen Square.

      If a big recession hit and the government couldn't stimulate or find enough jobs for the masses, China could become a powder keg of unrest. Proverbial pitchforks are not just a western thing.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    4. Re:A tale of two Chinas by sabbede · · Score: 1
      Nicely put. If you didn't know, the slowdown in growth rates as China approaches parity falls under the heading of Convergence Theory. Developing economies grow very fast by taking advantage of tools developed by, well, developed economies. As the level of development begins to converge with the West, they experience diminishing marginal returns (what with increasing labor costs and the increasing cost of the "next" improvement) and growth rates fall sharply.

      My concern is that as the middle class rises and demands ever greater political power (to match growing economic power), and as the growth rates that sustain the Party's rule fall, the government will go to ever greater lengths to maintain control over an increasingly uncontrollable situation. Eventually tearing the country apart or even leading to war with the US.

  7. Thank you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Thank you Wal-Mart shoppers

  8. Re:Make China Great Again by alvinrod · · Score: 2

    Pshh... It's not like they've built a wall or anything.

  9. Will these jobs pay a living wage? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    In the last 8 years, over a million jobs were created in the USA, but the majority of them don't pay a living wage, so the number of people seeking full-time employment hasn't changed. Is China going to do any better, and if so, how?

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  10. Education Addicts [Re:The thing is] by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    they don't have enough young people who want to work in factories, yet they have too many PhDs [paraphrased]

    In Chinese culture, higher education is a big status symbol, much more so than the US.

    In the US, a big-name degree is a relatively minor status symbol UNTIL it makes one wealthy. This is because we know that academic excellence often doesn't translate into earning power, and those with good grades often lack people skills (to be frank).

    But in China, a big-name degree typically has gotten one into higher positions, partly out of cultural habit. A manager has bragging power by hiring a big-degree person, even if the employee is a dud (lazy, fastidious about the wrong things, bad people skills, etc.). Back in the days when the economy was mostly socialistic, dud employees didn't hurt that much.

    I suspect this will gradually change over time as practical issues, fast change, and competition pressure overwrite custom; but for now, Chinese are education addicts.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  11. Re:Good luck breathing, poor SOB's. by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 2

    Says the guy who failed to read about Trump's plans to replace the entire EPA science and research departments with corporate shilled "Thunk tanks".
    Capitalism without handcuffs is fascism, every single time.

  12. Re:Good luck breathing, poor SOB's. by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

    Sorry. Capitalism is never equal to fascism. It's silly, empty, foolish, ignorant rhetoric to say so.

    What's fascism is creating rules and procedures for the expressed purpose of hurting a specific group of people. The US Constitution's check and balances was instituted to curtail such actions. A free-wheeling, unsupervised, bureaucracy with not check and balance is closer to your definition of fascism than the free market.

    --
    If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
    Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
  13. Saudi Arabia by Pseudonymus+Bosch · · Score: 1

    Doesn't Saudi Arabia follow 5-year plans?

    --
    __
    Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
    GW Bu
  14. Re:Good luck breathing, poor SOB's. by losfromla · · Score: 1

    I'll add your absurd and incorrect definition to my other 307 definitions of fascism. Here's a nice link for you:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
    you're welcome.

    --
    Only I can judge you.
  15. Re:Good luck breathing, poor SOB's. by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

    I tend to using the Mussolini description: "The Fascist conception of the State is all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism is totalitarian, and the Fascist State—a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values—interprets, develops, and potentiates the whole life of a people."

    --
    If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
    Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
  16. Re:Good luck breathing, poor SOB's. by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

    Oh?
    Who paid for Hitler and Mousolinni's rise?
    Not the workers
    In Hitler's case, large sources of his funds were American Capitalists, including George Prescott, G.W.'s grandfather
    Fascism IS captialism, there is no such thing as a COMMUNIST fascist state!
    The U.S. Constitution Check and Balance is worthless with Trump leading the Republican'ts, just as it was when Bush started his WMD lie based war.

  17. Re:Good luck breathing, poor SOB's. by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

    In Fascism the individual is but a cell in the body politic and it is meaningless on its own, It's a collectivist ideology, antithetical to individual rights and individual freedom -- the SAME as communism.

    In communism there is no respect to the individual; no individual liberty; no individual worth - once again the individual is subsumed to the almighty collective.

    FUCK fascism and FUCK communism. They're both equally barbaric, equally despicable and equally worthless.

    If fascism is capitalism then I, and other libertarians, are fascists. You need to rethink your rhetoric. Not only is it false but it is dangerously unhinged. -- If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers. Vote 3rd Party in 2016 an beyond

    --
    If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
    Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
  18. Re:Good luck breathing, poor SOB's. by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

    Wrong. Fuck CAPITALISM which is the economic system of all Fascist states, is always in charge of the Fascist policy and is always enriched with the work of disposable people
    Like say in the U.S. right now.

  19. Re:Good luck breathing, poor SOB's. by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

    Ok. Then according to you I am a fascist. I'm a small-government, free-market,pro-individual rights, live-and-let-live libertarian who wants to pare government down to its core.

    If the above description sounds like fascism to you. Then you're a sick deranged fuk.

    --
    If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
    Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
  20. Re:Good luck breathing, poor SOB's. by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

    There is no such thing as a free market.
    Never was, and never can be.
    For it is the purpose of all Capitalists to create monopolies in fact, if not in name.
    Libertarians believe only in profit for the few and rights ONLY for the already comfortable
    yeah, that makes you a fascist.

  21. Re:Good luck breathing, poor SOB's. by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

    So. You are unable to distinguish between a promoter of individual liberty and a collectivist who considers people little more than pawns to the body collective?
    Farmers, craftsmen are unable to trade their goods without government say-so.
    You promote unlimited government power - but I am a fascist. OK

    --
    If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
    Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
  22. Re:Good luck breathing, poor SOB's. by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

    A "Promoter of individual liberty" does not support Capitalism without restraint which is always a Fascist oligarchy
    See yemen and Chad for examples of unrestrained "Individual liberty"
    Your problem is that you are delusional, a believer in Fascist Ayn Rand's "Do-er" pseudophilosophy
    Don't bother with another bullsh!t response that does not address corporatism, which is capitalism, and at the extremes is always Fascism.