Furthermore, according to some rankings China’s international competitiveness is declining, so it needs to improve its productivity. Average worker productivity in agriculture is a mere 0.8% that in the United States; in manufacturing it’s 3.6%. Ironically, as China boosts productivity it will need less labor, exacerbating unemployment, unless there is increased demand for Chinese goods and services. A critical element of China’s new strategy will be to diversify its goods and services by taking advantage of new knowledge.
