Research from the Washington-based Center for Global Development noted that the United States and the European Union are committed to reducing their dependence on Chinese manufacturing products, but China’s share of global manufacturing jobs will continue to increase through 2050, by which time China will be committed to despite global 43% of the jobs are in the manufacturing industry, making it one of the only countries to achieve manufacturing employment growth.
As global supply chains experience bottlenecks in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, major Western economies are beginning to question their overreliance on Chinese goods. The issue, which has led to higher production and prices overall, is expected to have an impact on the global economy, with the European Union and the United States adopting risk reduction strategies targeting China, including China’s development in cutting-edge technology areas such as semiconductors required for artificial intelligence.
However, research shows that rich countries are likely to continue to lose manufacturing jobs, with manufacturing as a share of the high-income workforce falling to 8.3% by 2050, while manufacturing jobs in low-income countries are expected to remain at 8% of the total workforce. This means that the decline in industrial job opportunities is likely to continue for decades to come, while opportunities in services and new fields are likely to bring more change.
(Source: AFP Image source: freepik)
