基于单位劳动力成本的中国制造业国际竞争力研究

Research on International Competitiveness of Chinese Manufacturing Using the Method of Unit Labor Cost

计算、比较中国与主要出口竞争国的单位劳动力成本(ULC),发现中国制造业仍然具有较大的国际竞争优势,原因是多年来制造业劳动生产率增速明显快于工资增速,使单位劳动成本保持下降趋势。相对单位劳动力成本(RULC)的比较结果显示,即使不考虑提高工资将促使劳动生产率进一步提升以及基础设施、国内市场、政治环境等方面的优势,在现有劳动生产率水平上,中国制造业仍能够承受约50%的劳动报酬上升。用购买力平价调整后的ULC数据说明,尽管汇率低估在一定程度上强化了中国制造业国际竞争优势,但2005年汇率改革以来,这种附加优势已基本消失。

Through calculating and comparing the Unit Labor Cost（ULC） and Relative Unit Labor Cost（RULC） between China and major export competition countries,this article found that Chinese manufacturing still had a large international competitive advantage,and the reason lied in that the growth rate of labor productivity of manufacturing workers was significantly faster than wage growth,which made the downward trend in unit labor cost.Furthermore,the comparison of RULC shows that even without considering that the higher wages will lead further improvement of labor productivity and the advantages in infrastructure,domestic market,and political environment,China is still able to withstand about 50% of the rise in labor compensation under the existing level of labor productivity.In addition,by calculating the adjusted ULC data with purchasing power parity,this paper revealed that although the exchange rate which had been undervalued strengthened the international competition advantage of Chinese manufacturing to some extent,this additional advantage has disappeared since the reform of the RMB exchange in 2005.