Growth target can be cut

If that happens, the country should become tolerant and make use of the slowdown to test its ability in restructuring its economy in a difficult situation.

China’s growth is at 7.4 percent year-on-year, slightly lower than the whole-year target of 7.5 percent. But at least the labor market has remained stable. The annual target of job creation has been met by the end of the third quarter.

As the scale of the Chinese economy become ever bigger, its growth has been able to generate more jobs. Moreover, the prospering labor-intensive services sectors, which accommodate more jobs than industry, have also helped the country produce more jobs even if its growth rate falls.

According to estimation by the UBS, GDP growth of about 6 percent in 2015 can generate more new employment than a 10 percent growth in 2008, meaning “there is less pressure now for the government to stimulate growth from a pure labor market consideration”.

For an economy as big as China, it is no longer cost-worthy to continue to pursue lop-sided high growth. It is a must — and it is also affordable — to mend its pace in restructuring its economic growth pattern to pave way for a sustainable expansion in the coming decades. Actually it has started late and it can no longer afford losing more time.