“The 4th international symposium on human capital and the labor market
celebrating release of the China human capital report 2012” was held in CUFE on
December 14, 2012. The symposium, which was organized by China Center for Human
Capital and Labor Market Research, aimed to release the China human capital
report 2012 and provide a platform for an in-depth discussion of human capital
issues.
Besides a regular plenary meeting, the symposium also included
three sessions to discuss a variety of human capital issues. The plenary meeting
was hosted by Prof. Barbara Fraumeni from University of Southern Maine. The
first, second and the third sessions were chaired by Prof. Rachel Connelly from
Bowdoin College; Prof. Zhenhui Xu from University of Georgia and Prof. Dennis
Tao Yang from University of Virginia, respectively.
In the plenary
meeting, the director of the Center and the Human Capital project, Prof.
Haizheng Li, presented the 2012 report. Following that, Prof. Weiping Li, the
chief researcher from Chinese Academy of Personnel Science, and Prof. Dennis Tao
Yang, gave their comments and suggestions on the report.
The report
provides updates on the 2011 report in the following areas: uses the updated
provincial statistical data; computes human capital for five new provinces
(Tianjin, Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Guangxi and Shaanxi) and adds the analysis of
relative trends in human capital for those five new provinces; and also updates
interprovincial comparison in human capital.
The report shows that,
form 1985 to 2009, the human capital of China increased from 26.03 trillion to
146.46 trillion Yuan, an increase of nearly five-fold. Specifically, the growth
of human capital accelerated after 1995. And the ratio of GDP to human capital
demonstrated a rising trend, which suggested an increased efficiency of human
capital.
Among the 17 provinces estimated, the top three provinces
ranked by human capital stock in 2009 were Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shandong; and
by human capital per capita were Shanghai, Zhejiang and Beijing. While China had
a large total human capital stock, its human capital per capita was relatively
low compared to developed countries.
Based on the estimated results, the
main reasons for growth of human capital were urbanization and education. On the
other hand, the changing age structure caused by aging population was reducing
human capital stock. Moreover, the current mandated retirement age in China
induced people to drop out of labor market when their human capital was still
relatively high, which could affect the utilization of human capital and future
human capital investment.
In addition, the report also suggests that the
lack of human capital in undeveloped provinces led to the backwardness of the
economy. The government could encourage and help the undeveloped provinces
strengthen the investment in human capital to increase the speed of economic
growth, which could help promote balance in economic development across
regions.
