First glance

Li Keqiang’s farewell points to employment as China’s major problem

China's modest 2023 growth target provides more evidence of a focus on sustainable growth and jobs.

Publishing date
07 March 2023
Li Keqiang

Against the backdrop of reopening after three years of zero-COVID-19 policies, China’s outgoing prime minister Li Keqiang has set out a GDP growth target of around 5% in 2023. This is lower than last year’s government target (5.5%), though consumption this year will receive a massive boost from the reopening. In other words, Li Keqiang’s 2023 GDP growth target, announced on 4 March in his last report, given during the ‘two sessions’, looks very conservative. Why is this?

First and foremost, the Chinese government, especially new prime minister Li Qiang, does not want to risk undershooting its growth target again, as happened in 2022. Though consumption is recovering, external demand remains weak, and it is hard to know whether private investment will indeed jump, given doubts about the role of the private sector in the Chinese economy and increasingly cautious sentiment on the part of foreign investors. Furthermore, the real-estate sector is still dragging down growth.

Second, the Chinese government seems unwilling to push for an excessively lax fiscal policy to ensure higher growth. In particular, the budget deficit is set at 3% for 2023, slightly higher than last year (2.8%) but lower than 2020 (3.6%) and 2021 (3.2%). In the same vein, the issuance of local government special purpose bonds, which is targeted at raising 3.8 trillion renminbi, is only moderately higher than the average for 2020 to 2022 (between 3.65 trillion and 3.7 trillion renminbi) even at a time when land sales are expected to stagnate after more than a year of contraction.

Finally, in terms of monetary policy, the government continues to use the same wording as in past reports: money supply and total social financing will be consistent with nominal economic growth. This also means that, so far, no credit binge should be expected or, in other words, monetary policy will not be used to push growth beyond the positive impact of the reopening.

In the longer term, the government’s push for a structural shift in the Chinese economy will continue. Over the last few years, tighter rules have been introduced to contain financial risk and achieve more social objectives, including greening the economy and food security. This is an important signal that the Chinese government recognises that over-high growth is no longer possible. Nor is it desirable because it only creates further financial imbalances. Sustainable growth has become a key concept in China’s new economic narrative.

Against such a backdrop, job security is clearly one of the most important objectives. Li Keqiang’s final government report very much focused on the need for jobs, with a higher job creation target of 12 million, compared to previous years (11 million, except for the even lower target in 2020 after COVID-19 hit China). The higher employment target reflects the government’s concern about the job market, especially for young workers, almost 20% of whom were unemployed during spring 2022. In other words, the government wants to make sure that the current employment growth momentum, stemming from the reopening, is maintained throughout 2023.

This also explains China’s recent charm offensive intended to maintain China’s large share of foreign direct investment, which constitutes a significant share of employment in manufacturing in China. Current moves towards supply-chain diversification will not help China meet the employment goal. Nor will the Chinese private sector, an even more important source of employment, unless the strict regulations that have hammered the tech sector, and also real estate, in the last few years are relaxed. President Xi indicated, in his speech at the National People’s Congress in October 2022, that he expects more support from the private sector but it remains unclear if he will get it.

The 5% growth target is thus consistent with the current challenges facing the Chinese economy and with the government’s more diversified objectives beyond economic growth. Creating more jobs is an essential part of China’s new sustainable growth narrative, explaining the higher employment creation target with which Li Keqiang is bidding fairwell. However, China must contend with the uncertainties around how interested foreign and Chinese private investors are in creating more jobs.

About the authors

  • Alicia García-Herrero

    Alicia García Herrero is a Senior Fellow at European think-tank BRUEGEL. She is also the Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis, and a non-resident Senior Follow at the East Asian Institute (EAI) of the National University Singapore (NUS). Alicia is also Adjunct Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Finally, she is a Member of the Council of Advisors on Economic Affairs to the Spanish Government and an advisor to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s research arm (HKIMR) among other advisory and academic positions.

    In previous years, Alicia held the following positions: Chief Economist for Emerging Markets at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Member of the Asian Research Program at the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), Head of the International Economy Division of the Bank of Spain, Member of the Counsel to the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, Head of Emerging Economies at the Research Department at Banco Santander, and Economist at the International Monetary Fund. Alicia has maintained a part-time academic life throughout her career as Visiting Professor at John Hopkins University (SAIS program), at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, Carlos III University in Madrid among others.

    Alicia holds a PhD in Economics from George Washington University and has published extensively in refereed journals and books (her publications can be found in ResearchGateGoogle ScholarSSRN or REPEC).

    Alicia is also very active in international media (Bloomberg and CNBC among others) as well as social media (Twitter and LinkedIn). Alicia was included in the TOP Voices in Economy and Finance by LinkedIn in 2017 and #6 Top Social Media leader by Refinitiv in 2020.

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