Bloomberg: Robots Displace Workers as Wage-Spiral Pressures Profits in China
Many Chinese manufactures struggle in today’s economic environment, thanks in no small part to rising labor costs. “Time is running out fast for Chinese manufacturers to adapt,” Albert Park, told Bloomberg.
Park, Director of HKUST IEMS, headed the international committee for the China Employer-Employee Survey, which aims to study both how Chinese firms are coping with a hostile business environment, as well as the implications for Chinese workers.
Among key findings of the survey discussed in the article were increased automation, production of higher quality products, and investment in R&D. These activities help firms weather worsening economic conditions, although many of them reduced fixed capital spending by 6% from 2013 to 2015. Park explains: “Decisions to reduce capital investment are often related to uncertainty about the future. They could reflect views about future growth in China.”
Read the original article China Robots Displace Workers as Wage Spiral Pressures Profits.
The story was featured in other media sources in Chinese: 中國製造業工資水平10年翻番 機器人勢將取代工人, 中國薪資成本10年倍增 製造業改用機器人取代人力, 請人又貴又難？中國廠商改請機械人, and 中国制造业工资水平10年翻番 机器人势将取代工人.
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