TECHNOLOGY AT WORK
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44<br />
Citi GPS: Global Perspectives & Solutions February 2015<br />
Figure 31. US vs. China wage growth<br />
Figure 32. China working age population (15-64) (% Total)<br />
$50,000<br />
$40,000<br />
$30,000<br />
$20,000<br />
$10,000<br />
1995<br />
1996<br />
1997<br />
China CAGR: 13.5%<br />
US CAGR: 3.5%<br />
1998<br />
1999<br />
2000<br />
2001<br />
2002<br />
2003<br />
2004<br />
2005<br />
2006<br />
2007<br />
2008<br />
2009<br />
2010<br />
CNY 40,000<br />
CNY 30,000<br />
CNY 20,000<br />
CNY 10,000<br />
CNY 0<br />
76%<br />
74%<br />
72%<br />
70%<br />
68%<br />
66%<br />
64%<br />
62%<br />
60%<br />
58%<br />
56%<br />
54%<br />
2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050<br />
Source: Citi Research, Social Security Administration<br />
Source: World Bank<br />
Automation is a new focus area in China’s<br />
12th Five-Year Plan<br />
As a result, automation is a new focus and a new strategic area in China’s 12 th Five-<br />
Year Plan. In a Xinhua report in October 2014, the deputy director of the State<br />
Engineering Research Center for Robotics said that there were more than 30 robot<br />
factories being built in China, with about 420 so-called “robot enterprises”.<br />
China has now replaced the US as the world’s largest market for automation and it<br />
is expected to maintain its rapid growth. Industry consultant ARC forecasts high<br />
growth in a range of Industrial automation segments in China as all being double<br />
digit. A different source, GCIS, expects CAGR during 2010-15E to be 16.5% for the<br />
whole automation sector in China combined with industrial robotic growth at the<br />
fastest rate of around 19%. Drivers of this growth include: (1) rising wages; (2)<br />
difficulties in hiring a sufficient number of trained and capable employees; (3) rapid<br />
staff turnover; (4) work environment improvements; (5) growth in auto<br />
manufacturing; and (6) concerns about a “peaking out” of the workforce.<br />
US Manufacturing Renaissance<br />
Could manufacturing within the US economy be bottoming? Manufacturing was<br />
once a powerhouse of the US economy, generating roughly a third of total economic<br />
output in the early 1950s and 1960s. However, steady erosion has taken place<br />
since then, as the US shifted to a more services-driven economy at the expense of<br />
manufacturing jobs.<br />
While manufacturing output has been<br />
growing in the US, it has fallen as a share of<br />
GDP<br />
While manufacturing output in pure dollar terms has grown at a steady pace, the<br />
sector as a percentage of national GDP has fallen from over 35% in the 1950s<br />
down to around 12% in 2011, illustrating the shift towards a services-driven<br />
economy, away from manufacturing and away from US shores. However, the rate of<br />
decline has stalled in the past decade, likely having bottomed out and achieved its<br />
minimum potential share of the economy. If conditions optimise in the near-term, the<br />
US could see a resurgence in the contribution of manufacturing output to total GDP,<br />
though it is unlikely that it will ever recover to pre-1980 levels.<br />
© 2015 Citigroup