Manufacturing makes way to services

Editor's note: In the face of current complex challenges, China's economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience with advantages and potential for growth. Three experts share their views on the issue with China Daily.

Manufacturing is the central focus of the industrial and trade policies being implemented by China and many other countries. The sector gets special treatment because of its crucial role in providing the hardware for national defense, decarbonization, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Policymakers also seek to promote manufacturing because it has traditionally been important in generating good jobs for less-educated workers.

But despite manufacturing contributing to national prosperity in both developed and developing countries, with most research and development focused on the sector, it is increasingly unable to create enough jobs for workers who need them. In the United States, for example, less than 10 percent of workers work in manufacturing and even if President Donald Trump's policies succeed in eliminating the US trade deficit through higher tariffs, the impact will not do much to change the prospects of workers without college degrees.