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Guangdong'S Wages Are Not The Key To China'S Economic Growth.

2008/8/29 11:18:00 26

The minimum wage in Guangdong determines the trend of China's economy. The August 25th article in the British times put forward such a view.

The reason is that according to the value, more than 30% of China's exports are from factories in Guangdong. If factories have to attract two or three times of their wages, this will destroy the source of the competitiveness of Chinese exports, that is, cheap labor. Moreover, Guangdong has raised the minimum wage by 17.6% to 1000 yuan in July, which is more than two times the increase in the consumer price index. However, with the increase of wages, workers did not rush into cities from the countryside at the speed of the past.

If China can not reverse the mode of economic growth which is overly dependent on external demand, if the bargaining power of Chinese export enterprises is bound to fail to increase, then this judgment is correct, but the two assumptions can not be established, so this judgment can not be established.

Under the market economic system, insufficient effective demand is a permanent nightmare to curb sustained economic growth; from the medium and long-term goals of economic growth mode change, we must change the situation of excessive dependence on external demand for economic growth, and rely more on domestic demand, especially consumption, to stimulate the economy. Therefore, we need to promote the increase of disposable income of residents.

As for the bargaining power of Chinese enterprises, we need not worry too much about the fact that orders for textiles and garments are coming back.

The average wage growth in Guangdong is lower than the national average level. First, it has damaged the attractiveness of Guangdong to labourers.

In the 80s of last century, in the eyes of the mainland, Guangdong's wages were enviable. But now the wages of ordinary laborers in Guangdong are still so envious of the mainland?

The fact that the "shortage of migrant workers" in the Pearl River Delta is the most important fact in the whole country has already answered this question.

Since the end of 2007, the media have reported that the small and medium-sized enterprises in the Pearl River Delta have gone out of business and collapsed. This old SME land seems to have been eclipsed, at least partly due to the shortage of migrant workers.

The difference in wage growth between different sectors and industries has further aggravated the seriousness of the problem.

The manufacturing sector is the most employed sector in Guangdong. Its relative wage level and growth rate are also very backward.

In 2006 and 2007, in the 19 major industries of Guangdong Province, the average wage of manufacturing industry ranked sixteenth, with an increase of 9.8% and 11.2% respectively. Last year, the average wage increase of manufacturing industry was 1.2 percentage points lower than that of the average annual wage increase of 12.4% urban employees.

The biggest labor group's average wage growth is weak, and the impact on Guangdong's average wage level and the attractiveness of Guangdong in the eyes of workers can be imagined.

Guangdong is vigorously developing modern service industry and advanced manufacturing industry, hoping to achieve industrial upgrading and break through the dilemma of rising costs.

However, the more advanced manufacturing industry is, the more skilled technicians and workers are needed. The higher the skills of technicians and workers, the stronger their bargaining power and mobility in the labor market. How can a low wage Guangdong attract them?

As for the development of the service industry, we must bear in mind that the modern service industry can only be built on the basis of modern manufacturing. If the manufacturing foundation is weakened due to the attractiveness of the laborers, the modern service industry will be difficult to develop.

Because it is the first big economic province in the world, its average wage growth is lagging behind, which also has a negative impact on the pformation of the whole national economic growth mode.

Reversing the lag of the average wage growth in Guangdong is imminent. For this reason, the government and public opinion should strengthen the supervision of enterprises, especially the supervision of foreign capital and private enterprises.

In 2007, the average annual salary of the state-owned workers in Guangdong was 36396 yuan, an increase of 16.1%; the average annual salary of the employees in the urban collective units was 16328 yuan, an increase of 12.5%; the average annual wage of the other units was 26215 yuan, an increase of 10.2%; the average annual salary and the increase of the annual average wage of the non-state-owned enterprises, especially those of other units including foreign investment and private enterprises, were significantly lower than those of the state-owned enterprises.

On the one hand, the state-owned economy has been concentrated in the capital and technology intensive industries after massive reorganization in previous years, but on the other hand, it reflects that the non-state-owned enterprises are not as good as state-owned enterprises in protecting the rights and interests of workers.

The new labor contract law has caused great opposition to the operators and owners of non-state-owned enterprises, which fully shows the difficulty of turning. The local government of Guangdong has a long way to go.