How Investing in People Can Support Future Economic Growth
China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) sets out a dual growth strategy investing in both physical assets and people, marking a shift from the country's traditional infrastructure-led model. WEF argues that stronger human capital — higher skills, better health, greater adaptability — boosts productivity, absorbs new technology, and builds labor-market resilience, citing the US, Germany, Singapore, and South Korea as economies that escaped the middle-income trap by building education hubs before technology hubs.
As China's low-labor-cost growth model fades, local talent quality, skills matching, and joint talent development with educational institutions are becoming standard requirements for companies operating there — a preview of how human capital investment is becoming a direct input to competitiveness, not a soft cost.
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