Introduction of China Human Capital Index Project

 　　 "China Human Capital Measurement and Human Capital Index Project" is funded by China National Natural Science Foundation and Central University of Finance and Economics, conducted by China Center for Human Capital and Labor Market Research (CHLR). The goal of this project is to establish China’s first set of systematic and scientific measurements of human capital and quantify its distribution and dynamics. The Indexes, once established, can be used to support empirical research as well as government policy-making. In addition, the China human capital index we are constructing is aimed at becoming an important part of the nascent international human capital measurement system, and eventually being incorporated into the National Income Accounting system.

　　This project is led by CHLR Director, Professor Haizheng Li. Professor Barbara Fraumeni, who did the pioneer work in developing the popular Jorgenson-Fraumeni method of calculating human capital stock, and all faculty members and graduate students at the CHLR participated in the project.

 　　This project requires a huge amount of data collection and processing. After one year of daily effort, we have obtained China’s total human capital stock series from 1985 to 2010. We have also calculated disaggregated values by location (i.e. urban and rural) and gender, and projected the series until 2020. Our results have seen rising attention from international organizations such as the OECD, and we are actively looking for opportunities of more international collaboration.