There were more than two million robots working in Chinese factories last year, according to a report released Thursday by the International Federation of Robotics, a nonprofit trade group for makers of industrial robots. Factories in China installed nearly 300,000 new robots last year, more than the rest of the world combined, the report found.
This is why I think the narrative that China’s economy is going to collapse due to losing workers over time because of their demographics is false. I think the engineers running China are going to turn to mass automation and AI to increase their workforce’s labour productivity and maintain the ability to make everything.
Whether the Chinese workers would be able to capture more of that higher productivity than their western counterparts is an open question. Given some numbers I’ve seen, so far they have done better in this regard. But I imagine the Chinese capitalist class would be fighting tooth and nail to change that.
Which numbers are that?
Wages (in manufacturing) increasing at a rate somewhat proportional (pasted a pic below since longer periods require login) to the growth of the economy, which means that workers are capturing a significant chunk of the economic growth. This is also reflected in the falling Gini index after its peak in 2010.
Your picture proves nothing.
Gini is only one metric. Even if we assume the data is correct, it is not better than in Europe or Western democracies. But many experts don’t believe these numbers. Gini is based on official data provided by the Chinese government, hence not very reliable.
Social inequity in China is also higher by all comparitive standards. And Chinese workers’ rights, women’s rights, rights of minorities (essentially all other than Han- Chinese) are much weaker than in the West.
Yeah I’m not going into the fake numbers debate. You choose to believe the numbers you believe. I made a specific point since the topic was factory automation which typiclly has effects on wages, productivity and employment. To me the trend in wages is the most interesting. Especially given the context of automation so far. If you believe the numbers, wages are rising rapidly. If the trend continues they will close the gap with us. Adjusted for PPP they’re almost at Greece’s average wage level. If you believe the numbers.