Money, Materials and the Masses
The main underlying assumption behind the birth planning policy is that a large population and a fast population growth rate together are unfavorable for an economy where resources and public funds are limited. A large population alone is not necessarily a bad thing, because if the population is simply large but isn't growing at a significant rate, then it is relatively easy for the existing populace and the government to adjust their use of resources so it is appropriate for the general good.On the other hand, a large population combined with rapid population growth can pose problems for the society at large and its government. With many people entering the social picture at once, seeking employment, housing, and medical care, the society must provide for those in need. When the society's financial, material and environmental resources are finite, there is only so much it can do for the increasing masses.
The interaction between demographics and economy isn't always negative, however. At times they stimulate each other. There is a reason why the overwhelming majority of migrants and foreign investors choose to work and invest in the more populous areas of China, such as Beijing and Shanghai. The government's liberalized economic policies alone cannot give rise to economic development. A large population adds dynamism to the free market, with many people becoming businesspeople, bosses, middle-managers, and many others serving as workers and consumers. This perpetuates a productive cycle of people generating wealth and wealth attracting more people. In a report issued last year, vice-minister of labor and social security Wang Dongjin said that the current economic growth rate is 7%, translating into eight million jobs created yearly. (www.cpirc.org/cn/enews20020617-2.htm)
This is a remarkable and encouraging figure, but is not quite sufficient to catch up with the growing masses who missed out on the new opportunities and are now in need. There are only so many jobs, so many homes, so much medicine that can fulfill human demand at an given place and time, while humans can reproduce (and migrate) infinitely. Urban unemployment has become a huge phenomenon. Statistics from China's Demographic Dilemmas cites that "In 1982, while the national employment rate was 5.5%, the rate reached 8.3% in Beijing... The number of those... unemployed... exceeded 5.8 million according to the 1990 census." Unemployment is such a prevalent problem that the employment chances even for today's highly educated are chipping away: only 70% of university students can find a job immediately upon graduation according to a 2002 study.(www.coirc.org/cn/enews20020617-2.htm)
Adding to this problem, China today is considered an aged population, meaning that at least one in every ten Chinese citizen is over age 65. (www.cpirc.org.cn/enews20020329.htm) Because the general standard of living has improved and the cost of medicine has risen in the past two decades, people now are living longer and demanding more expensive services. This places a heavier burden on the millions of Chinese workers who must pay taxes that fund the costs of the welfare recipients, and even then it is not sufficient to meet everybody's needs. The Chinese government is just recently beginning to admit the limits of its social welfare program for the elderly, and is now formulating its new strategy for meeting the health needs of the elderly. Such new strategies include mandating compulsory personal savings- when government provisions fail, it is better to rely on one's own funds. (Ibid)
Be Sure to Continue to Page 3 of "China's Birth Planning Policy: Positive Steps to an Uncertain Victory ".
