Investing and Global Finance News

Jobs and Wages Increase in China Despite Slow Economy

The struggling global economy has impacted employment, wages, industries and both import and export markets all over the world.

China, though disappointed by slow growth, is one of several countries that has managed to continue generating jobs and increase wages despite the obstacles. Which isn’t to say that their economy is thriving- as a matter of fact, experts have reduced their growth predictions to 7.5%, the worst since 2008.

Kenneth Rapoza, a contributor on Forbes.com, takes a particular interest in the employment rates, however.

“If you can believe government and private industry data on the job market, the employment picture remains robust,” he writes. “Not as good as it has been, but not as bad as other economies putting on the breaks. This means little social unrest on the horizon. It also means companies are still hiring in China and therefore believing in the country’s future as an engine of global growth right alongside the U.S. and Europe, which happens to be stuck in park.

“China’s steady job market- with official unemployment of around 4.5 percent- has given policy makers the chance to spend less energy on aggressive monetary easing and costly stimulus. Investors have been waiting for China to stimulate the economy for the last several weeks. And while it got some surprising interest rate cuts at the start of the summer, some have been saying that there is a sense of policy paralysis in China.”

Barclays Capital analysts indicate that the Chinese labor market has been, and will remain, solid throughout 2012. In fact, wage growth is still strong and double that of inflation, according to analyst Jian Chang.

“The better-than-expected labor market performance so far suggests that several structural trends are clearly under way,” he wrote in a report. “We think this is a fundamental force affecting the development of the Chinese labor market. All else equal, such a demographic shift would slow potential growth, although… it should also reduce pressure on the government to create jobs.”

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