Experts: Don't worry about labor shortage

Productivity trumps sheer numbers as emphasis shifts to skilled workers

China's shrinking working-age population should not cause alarm, experts said, after figures released recently by the National Bureau of Statistics showed declines in the number of workers over seven consecutive years.

Both the absolute number and the relative proportion of the working-age population - those 16 to 59 years of age - have been dropping. Last year there were 897 million people in China in that age group, down by 26 million from the peak in 2011.