Beijing, September 5, 2009: Can public-private partnerships help reduce unemployment in China?
Despite an enviable growth rate of 8% even in times of crisis, unemployment is on the rise in China while at the same time skilled personnel is lacking. More than ever before, China is in need of qualified, creative workers for the technologically more demanding production and service industries. New labor policies are needed to brigde the gap between rising unemployment among unskilled laborers and a lack of highly qualified and trained workers. Public-private partnerships – joint projects by government and private-sector partners – can be a way out of this employment dilemma, as examples in Australia, the UK, and the Netherlands show, argues the former German Minister of Labor and Economics, Wolfgang Clement, in an article for Business Watch, a leading Chinese business magazine. – Shepard Fox Communications placed the article in the magazine, after editing and translating it.