China Adviser Says Higher Labor Costs May Ease Trade Tension (1)

Changing China’s intense work culture could ease trade tensions and spur domestic consumption, a policy adviser to Beijing said, urging the authorities to rein in overtime employment that’s helping drive down the cost of goods.

Lu Ming

Source: Bloomberg

“If China continues to rely on overtime work to boost competitiveness, it essentially sacrifices domestic welfare to subsidize foreign consumers,” Lu Ming, an economics professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said in an interview on Thursday. “That’s unnecessary.”

Surging Chinese exports have sparked rising resistance abroad. That backlash has prompted some countries to impose tariffs on Chinese goods to shield their domestic industries. ...