China struggles with skilled workers shortage  

cctv.com 07-19-2005 13:02

China is often called "the workshop of the world". One of the reasons for this is the vast and abundant labor resource. But with the rapid evolution of China's manufacturing industries, a severe shortage of skilled workers has emerged. For today's contribution to our special Labour Report series, our reporter Liu Ying went to explore the issue in Guangzhou, one of South China's major manufacturing hubs.

Honda chose this location on the outskirts of Guangzhou to set up this joint-venture plant. These young technicians need a high-level of skills to work on the Japanese automaker's highly mechanized assembly lines.

Taking advantage of China's fast-growing private car ownership, the factory's production capacity has soared sharply from just 10-thousand units six years ago, to the current 240-thousand units a year. At the same time, the number of staff has more than tripled to 43-hundred. And there's still room for growth in store... the auto giant wants to boost its annual output by another 50 percent next year to 360-thousand cars. To meet this goal, the factory has to find enough technicians to keep a whole new plant going. But this may not be an easy job.

Zeng Yicong, general manager of General Affairs Div., Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co., said: "We're looking to employ at least 1,500 more skilled workers for our new plant. But with both Toyota and Nissan making an arrival here in Guangzhou, we may encounter increased competition in the process of recruitment."

And it's not just multinationals like Honda that is concerned about the shortage of skilled workers. Local companies are facing the same problem. With China moving rapidly away from labor-intensive to technology-intensive modes of production, manufacturers need more and more skilled workers, especially senior-level technicians.

China currently has a total of 70 million skilled workers. But 60 percent of these have only a low-level of skills. Those with senior level qualifications account for a mere 4 percent of the total, compared to the average 35 percent in developed nations.

Experts indicate that this is a leftover from the labor-intensive mode of production.

Zeng Zizhen, professor of Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, said: "The economic prosperity of the Pearl River Delta, China's manufacturing center, originated from a boom in labor-intensive production. When cheap labor with a low level of skills can meet requirements, there's very little incentive for enterprises to invest in technical training."

Professor Zheng warns that the increasingly acute shortage of skilled workers will hamper the industrial upgrading in many manufacturing sectors. This lack in China's labor pool may also adversely affect the investment decisions of some high-tech multinationals.

In addition, the lack of skilled workers in the more advanced production sectors has impaired the commercial application of new technologies. Figures show that technological advances contribute to a mere 30 percent of China's economic growth, much lower than the 60 to 80 percent in developed economies.

To improve the current situation, a key strategy China has adopted is to strengthen technical training. A three-year program, which aims to train 500 thousand senior skilled workers nationwide by the end of 2006, is well underway. In the meantime, stepping up vocational education could be another solution.

This vocational college in Guangzhou offers specialized courses in mechanical and electrical skills. Over the past two years, the local government has given the college some 20 million yuan, or 2.4 million US dollars, in funds to upgrade its educational facilities. And the college has an ambitious plan for expansion.

Liu Huijian, president of Guangdong Vocational College of Mechanical & Electrical Tech.,said: "At the start of the next academic year this September, we expect to increase our total number of students and teachers to 6,000 from the current 4,800. And the government hopes we'll be able to double that number by 2010."

Vocational colleges and schools like this one have shouldered the huge task of providing skilled workers to meet the soaring demands of China's numerous technologically ambitious manufacturers. Private companies have also started to invest more on in-house training. With joint efforts from both public and private sectors, China may well find itself in a better position to tackle this tough challenge.

Editor:Wang  Source:CCTV.com