Workers at a factory of Chinese telecoms company Oppo in Dongguan, Guangdong province. China is losing its labour premium as the world’s factory because of both rising wage costs and a lower labour supply. Photo: Xinhua Workers at a factory of Chinese telecoms company Oppo in Dongguan, Guangdong province. China is losing its labour premium as the world’s factory because of both rising wage costs and a lower labour supply. Photo: Xinhua
Workers at a factory of Chinese telecoms company Oppo in Dongguan, Guangdong province. China is losing its labour premium as the world’s factory because of both rising wage costs and a lower labour supply. Photo: Xinhua
Shirley Ze Yu
Opinion

Opinion

Shirley Ze Yu

Three reasons China’s economy is strong but not invincible

  • China’s economy is surging while the rest of the world struggles with the pandemic, bringing the day it surpasses the US as the leading economy ever closer
  • Even so, China’s demographic time bomb, an only partially liberal financial market and systemic weakness in frontier science and technologies threaten its rise

Shirley Ze Yu
Shirley Ze Yu

Updated: 4:28am, 10 Feb, 2021

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Workers at a factory of Chinese telecoms company Oppo in Dongguan, Guangdong province. China is losing its labour premium as the world’s factory because of both rising wage costs and a lower labour supply. Photo: Xinhua Workers at a factory of Chinese telecoms company Oppo in Dongguan, Guangdong province. China is losing its labour premium as the world’s factory because of both rising wage costs and a lower labour supply. Photo: Xinhua
Workers at a factory of Chinese telecoms company Oppo in Dongguan, Guangdong province. China is losing its labour premium as the world’s factory because of both rising wage costs and a lower labour supply. Photo: Xinhua
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Shirley Ze Yu

Shirley Ze Yu

Dr Shirley Ze Yu is Asia fellow at Ash Centre, Harvard Kennedy School, a senior visiting fellow at the Institute of Global Affairs at London School of Economics, and an associate at the Lau China Institute at King's College London. She has held senior executive roles in Chinese and global corporations over the past decade, and was formerly a China Central Television (CCTV) news anchor.