The climb in labor costs

Chinese enterprises should become acclimated to rising labor costs as soon as possible because the country is striving to embrace a consumer-led growth.

The coming of the Chinese new year reminds us of the bleak employment situation the country faced a year ago. More than 20 million farmer-turned-migrant workers were found at the time returning home unemployed as the worst global recession in decades hit China's labor-intensive export sectors hard.

But recent reports that worker shortage has again gripped export hubs in China's coastal areas sound reassuring.