This paper compares the internal structures of the manufacturing industries in China and the U.S. from 1998 to 2005 and leads to three major discoveries: First, the gaps between China and the U.S.’s manufacturing capacity have been narrowing at a high speed in the last seven years, during which the share of added value of China’s manufacturing industry to that of the U.S. increased from 13% to 52%, and then reached 76% in 2007. Second, the labor force employed in China’s manufacturing industry increased by 50%, of which the increase in capital and technology-intensive production sectors exceeded that in labor-intensive sectors. Meanwhile, the labor force employed in the U.S. manufacturing industry decreased. Third, labor productivity in China’s manufacturing industry increased by 2.78 times, and profits increased by 2.21 times, much higher than the U.S. growth rates of 18.2% and 49.5%. Obviously, the narrowing gaps between China and the U.S.’s production capacities mean China’s industrial progress and the hierarchy of world industrial powers will be rearranged.
展开▼
