A spate of worker unrestand rising wages in China suggest that the world’s second-largest economy is very close to what economists call the “Lewis turning point,” when low-cost manufacturing industries become less competitive, forcing a change in the nation’s growth structure.
A new paper released by the International Monetary Fund economists Mitali Das and Papa N’Diaye — “Chronicle of a Decline Foretold: Has China Reached the Lewis Turning Point?” — predicts China would move from a vast supply of low-cost workers to a labor shortage economy sometime between 2020 and 2025. And there isn’t much Beijing can do about it.
Full story: China’s Declining Labor Pool Approaching ‘Lewis Turning Point’: IMF Paper
