Chinese 370

Chindia's Workforce Worries By Nandani Lynton compares China & India. About China, he says,

China is a rapidly aging society whose current challenges of unemployment and overpopulation will, within a decade, shift to different problems: labor shortages and an elderly population with too few children. In fact, China may be the first country to go gray before it reaches developed status. The World Bank estimates that by 2020 the mainland will face a lack of even unskilled labor due to aging.

China is already facing a shortage of skilled labor. Construction sites lack welders, skilled machine operators, and plumbers. And a recent NASSCOM-McKinsey report said the country is short some 750,000 managers. Despite a 95% literacy rate among all but the oldest citizens, there are not enough well-educated Chinese. This is in part due to a lack of schools that combine basic theory with practical skills and a focus on passing the elite university exams. So despite rising salaries, many of those entering China's workforce cannot learn the skills they need...

China graduates about 1.7 million students from 1,500 colleges and universities annually, of whom 350,000 are engineers. India produces about 3 million college and university graduates, including 440,000 engineers. Those numbers, though, don't tell the whole story. The McKinsey report states that only 10% to 25% of these graduates are employable by multinationals, and this is only partially because of language challenges. Every human resources executive I've met who works in China or India agrees with this evaluation.

The source of the problem is cultural. Young people in these countries are highly motivated to study and learn, but only in theory. There is no tradition of practical application. So engineers don't go into operations, factories, or mines, and don't really know the machines and conditions for which they are designing processes. Chinese and Indian students who have just earned BAs want to pursue MBAs right away, and neither they nor their parents understand the value of practical experience. The degree is seen as a trophy, a traditional ticket to higher status.

These trophies are worth very little in the workplace... Multinationals with flat hierarchies grapple with the discomfort Chinese middle managers feel in speaking up during meetings -- even within their own group of colleagues -- if a boss is present.

China and India share the problem of new graduates who become managers before they are 30 because they are smart, speak English well, and are willing to learn. But their lack of experience in dealing with others both above and below them can cause problems in managing people and in dealing with clients who expect someone more senior.

These young managers, however, are communicative and willing to question authority and give feedback. Their direct superiors, meanwhile, may have the professional knowledge and experience that companies need. But they're often more withdrawn socially and unwilling to push back in meetings with their own superiors.