As trade sanctions rise [4], ghost cities crumble, shadow banking surges, and the PBOC loses control of the most centrally-planned economy in the world amid their own version of 'peak debt' [5], it appears yet another pillar of the China-is-the-world's-growth-engine meme is crumbling. As Manpower recently reported [6], the belief in a mass 'urbanization' dream is absolutely not occurring. In fact, based on the following charts of various industry employment outlook levels, things are going the other way. How does 'ruralization' play into the 'if we build it' thesis?
The overall picture is not so pretty... as expectations of hiring are as low as they were in 2009...
[7]
and dramatically weaker in FIRE industries...
[8]
and Mining and Construction is being crushed...
[9]
(h/t Sean Corrigan of Diapason Commodities)