Productivity questions

The World Bank has reached an even more surprising conclusion.

Despite rapid advances in technology, productivity growth across emerging markets has been declining over the past two decades, Anna Bjerde, the World Bank's managing director of operations, said at the Bund Summit in Shanghai last month.

Since the global financial crisis of 2007-2009, the decline in labor productivity growth has been broad-based, affecting 70 percent of economies and over 80 percent of the global extreme poor. This decline has reached all regions of the developing world, including East Asia, according to World Bank data.

"Everybody is talking about AI. But we have not really seen the hard evidence showing the increases in productivity, profit, or companies' earnings," Huang said.

It will take "a little bit longer" to see the results of advances in technology demonstrated in productivity numbers, he said. While some of the gains are not yet reflected in traditional economic measurements, technological innovation also creates structural issues and leads to some job losses, he added.

Ni said a similar process will take place in China, as the country undergoes industrial restructuring.

"We have noticed a recent dip in the Chinese job market. But it will only be temporary. Technology advancements require an upgrade in knowledge, skills, and even the mindset of the current labor force. This will cause some fluctuations in the job market," he said, adding this has been the pattern of every industrial upgrade.

"Industries are upgrading as China calls for the development of new quality productive forces. Job candidates' reskilling and upskilling are still underway, resulting in a mismatch of talent demand and supply. But, we can still see that China is on a trajectory in which technology will play a bigger role in economic growth," he said.

Mark Wang, president and CEO of HSBC China, said in the past banks favored job candidates with trade and finance backgrounds. However, those with science and technology backgrounds are being increasingly sought by banks.

"We now like to hire candidates with backgrounds beyond the banking industry. Banks can train them, and they will later grasp the knowledge and skills of various industries. This will be the trend in the job market in the future," said Wang.

Lifelong learning will be especially important at a time of rapid technological innovation, despite employees' academic background, said Huo Yingli, Party secretary of the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

"While business development and technology development used to be separate, these two are now merged. In other words, employees need to develop skills in both aspects if they aspire to personal growth or more opportunities on their career path," she said.