Bussard Ramjet
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100m immigrants needed to save aging Chinese workforce
China must open its doors to up to 100 million young immigrants from Africa and Southeast Asia to address the country's aging workforce, according to a researcher with China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).
China's rapidly aging population, a product of the country's one-child policy, has become one of the government's biggest headaches. While Beijing has eased the national birth control policy in recent years, economic constraints have so far prevented a new baby boom.
The Chinese tradition of preferring boys to girls has also led to a gross gender imbalance in the population, with estimates that 30 million Chinese men will not be able to find a female partner by 2020.
Based on the sixth National Population Census in 2010, only 16.6% of the country's population was aged 0-14, less than half of the statistic in 1982. Research by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences found that before 2020, China's working population will fall by 1.55 million people per year. From 2020 to 2030, the working population will drop by 7.9 million people a year, eventually leading to a total decrease of 250 million workers by 2050.
Luo Tianhao, a researcher for the SASAC's Business Technology Assessment Center, says China's over-60s will account for 30% of the entire population by 2050, resulting in a significant shrinkage of youth labor that will have a devastating impact on the economy.
Luo says he has also additional concerns that the actual size of China's workforce has already been overstated, having once read a report stating that there are at least several tens of millions of middle-aged people in China unwilling to work or find employment.
Accordingly, Luo says that over the next 20 years, the government must decisively promote having children and "tolerate" mass immigration of up to 100 million people from African and Southeast Asian countries. Beijing has no choice but to choose this path, Luo said, adding that this would make China the country with the second-most immigrants in the world behind the United States.
The purpose of such an approach is utilize the young resources of those countries to effectively feed China's seniors, Luo said, noting that he does not believe young Chinese people will be disadvantaged from the policy because of the country's high university enrollment rate.
100m immigrants needed to save aging Chinese workforce|Society|News|WantChinaTimes.com
China must open its doors to up to 100 million young immigrants from Africa and Southeast Asia to address the country's aging workforce, according to a researcher with China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).
China's rapidly aging population, a product of the country's one-child policy, has become one of the government's biggest headaches. While Beijing has eased the national birth control policy in recent years, economic constraints have so far prevented a new baby boom.
The Chinese tradition of preferring boys to girls has also led to a gross gender imbalance in the population, with estimates that 30 million Chinese men will not be able to find a female partner by 2020.
Based on the sixth National Population Census in 2010, only 16.6% of the country's population was aged 0-14, less than half of the statistic in 1982. Research by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences found that before 2020, China's working population will fall by 1.55 million people per year. From 2020 to 2030, the working population will drop by 7.9 million people a year, eventually leading to a total decrease of 250 million workers by 2050.
Luo Tianhao, a researcher for the SASAC's Business Technology Assessment Center, says China's over-60s will account for 30% of the entire population by 2050, resulting in a significant shrinkage of youth labor that will have a devastating impact on the economy.
Luo says he has also additional concerns that the actual size of China's workforce has already been overstated, having once read a report stating that there are at least several tens of millions of middle-aged people in China unwilling to work or find employment.
Accordingly, Luo says that over the next 20 years, the government must decisively promote having children and "tolerate" mass immigration of up to 100 million people from African and Southeast Asian countries. Beijing has no choice but to choose this path, Luo said, adding that this would make China the country with the second-most immigrants in the world behind the United States.
The purpose of such an approach is utilize the young resources of those countries to effectively feed China's seniors, Luo said, noting that he does not believe young Chinese people will be disadvantaged from the policy because of the country's high university enrollment rate.
100m immigrants needed to save aging Chinese workforce|Society|News|WantChinaTimes.com