Beijing Urges Rural Officials to Hire Humans—Not Machines

With migrant workers’ opportunities dwindling, authorities are pressing local officials to find more for them to do, even if some of the work is inefficient

By Stella Yifan Xie of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"China’s top economic agency recently called on local governments to find more work for rural laborers, such as widening roads and digging canals—even if the tasks could more efficiently be done by machines. 

“If it’s possible to use human labor, do not use machines, and mobilize local residents to do the jobs,” said a directive released by China’s National Development and Reform Commission last month

The decree, which updated guidelines for a government rural relief program called Yi Gong Dai Zhen, or “work as relief,” reflects Beijing’s concerns that migrant laborers are running out of opportunities as China’s economy evolves.

The country’s nearly 300 million migrant workers used to be able to find employment easily on construction sites or in factories as China industrialized. Many jobs have disappeared, however, as China’s economy becomes more service-oriented, with more need for baristas or bank employees."

Reminds me of this story about Milton Friedman:

"While traveling by car during one of his many overseas travels, Professor Milton Friedman spotted scores of road builders moving earth with shovels instead of modern machinery. When he asked why powerful equipment wasn’t used instead of so many laborers, his host told him it was to keep employment high in the construction industry. If they used tractors or modern road building equipment, fewer people would have jobs was his host’s logic.

“Then instead of shovels, why don’t you give them spoons and create even more jobs?” Friedman inquired."

From Mark Perry.