Make up 1 general question, 2 alternative questions and 3 special questions to the contents of the article. Ask your group peers to answer these questions
Infer the meaning of the term “reshoring” and suggest your definition of the process.
In groups of 2 or 3 discuss the main causes and the anticipated effects of reshoring for Japanese manufacturing.
Is it the first attempt to bring manufacturing back to Japan? Prove your point of view with the evidence from the text.
What according to the author accounts for the reservations about the effects of the move on Japan’s economy?
Is reshoring unique for Japanese manufacturers or is it a universal trend?
READING AND SPEAKING III
Read the article and answer the questions that follow.
Define the MAIN IDEA of the article.
Find the TOPIC SENTENCE, i.e. the statement under which all other material in the paragraph – examples, reasons, facts, details and other evidence – can fit.
Provide examples of SUPPORTING DETAILS which clarify, illuminate, explain, describe, expand and illustrate the main idea. What types of supporting materials (comparisons, contrasts, quotations, statistics, vivid descriptions) does the article contain?
China Trumpets Its Service Economy
BEIJING – China’s government is highlighting the positive in its flagging economy, saying a transition from industry toward services is making headway. But the latest snapshot of economic performance suggests that shift is going to be arduous.
Services grew 8.3 percent last year and for the first time accounted for more than half of the economy, climbing to 50.5% from 48.1% the year before. Manufacturing rose only 6 percent while its share shed more than two percentage points, falling to 40.5%.
The statistics bureau chief, Wang Baoan, told a news conference that this year will see accelerated restructuring, with some older industries declining while new businesses “vigorously developing, further stimulating the vitality of the market.”
Service businesses are largely clean, unlike the factories China has long relied on. And services generate more jobs per yuan of output, an important benefit as the country shifts to a slower growth rate. The industry expands in tandem with higher household incomes as families spend more on education, insurance, restaurants, travel, and the other trappings of middle-class life. President Xi Jinping stressed in a Jan. 18 meeting with ministers and provincial officials the role of services, innovation, and household consumption as the new economic drivers.
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After years of Chinese leaders saying the economy needs to shift away from growth driven by investment in factories, roads and other assets, a slowdown now entering its sixth year is making that transition more necessary than ever. As the world’s second-largest economy, China has accounted for up to a third of global growth in recent years, so gearing up services and consumption matters at a time that many other emerging and developed economies are sagging.
Consumption amounted to about two-thirds of economic growth last year, up 15 percentage points from 2014, the statistics bureau said Tuesday. While disposable income outperformed the economy, increasing 7.4% last year, many analysts said overall consumption figures generally include government spending, unlike statistics provided by most other nations.
China has a long way to go before it resembles the U.S. economy, which derives almost 80 percent of GDP from services.
A large part of 2015’s gain from services came from the financial sector. It grew 15.9 percent as China’s stock markets soared in the first half of the year.
Transportation and logistics, which were boosted last year by fast-growing e-commerce, are likely to suffer this year as manufacturing continues to contract, says Andrew Batson, Beijing-based China research director at consultant GavekalDragonomics. About 60 percent of total services, including real estate, “are closely related to the industrial sector,” he says. “That means services growth is going to be significantly slower this year than it was last year. GDP will also significantly slow down.” He’s predicting GDP growth could fall below 6 percent by yearend, from 6.9 percent for 2015.
Regulatory barriers to competition in finance, health care, and telecommunications, areas dominated by government-connected companies, hinder growth in services. “So much of it is still state-owned,” says Andrew Polk, senior economist at the Conference Board China Center for Economics and Business. “The government needs to unleash the service sector.”
China’s State Council has made it easier for new companies to register by simplifying the approval process and ending minimum capital requirements. Policymakers have encouraged investment in tourism, health care, sports, and education in part through tax breaks. In the first 11 months of 2015, China registered 3.9 million new companies, up 19 percent, with more than four-fifths in services, according to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
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China’s service sector now employs more than 300 million people, the largest share of the country’s 775 million workers. The fastest growth has been in low-end jobs in retail, restaurants, hotels, and real estate. Over the last five years, education and government jobs, most of which are filled by college graduates, have fallen from a little less than half of total service employment to a third or so. Finance’s share has also fallen, says Albert Park, professor of economics at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “The higher-skilled sectors—telecoms, information technology, computers, finance, and business services—are still not a large share of the total service industry,” he says. “And while some are growing, they aren’t growing very quickly.”
Bloomberg Businessweek, January 28th, 2016
NOTES
1. disposable income - the amount of money that households have available for spending and saving after income taxes have been accounted for – располагаемыйдоход
2. minimum capital requirements - the share capital that must be deposited by shareholders before starting business operations – необходимыйминимальныйобъемкапитала
USEFUL TERMS AND EXPRESSIONS
· to flag –ослабевать, тормозить
· tomakeheadway – продвигаться вперед, делать успехи
· asnapshot– краткая характеристика, обзор, описание
· arduous–трудный, тяжелый, сложный
· toshed– снижать(ся), сокращать(ся), избавляться
· assets –активы
· togearup –1) ускорять 2) готовиться к чему-то
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· to sag –ослабевать, спадать, снижаться
· tooutperform –опередить, превзойти по показателям
· toderivefrom –извлекать, получать из
· stock market –фондовый рынок
· tounleash –развязать, открыть путь, дать волю
· tax breaks –налоговые льготы
· low-endjobs –низкооплачиваемые виды работ
· governmentjobs – должности в государственных учреждениях и организациях
· business services–предпринимательские услуги
Answer the questions:
1. What role has industry played in Chinese economy in recent decades?
2. What kind of rebalancing is going on at the moment in Chinese economy?
3. What impact does service sector have on Chinese economy?
4. What makes the ongoing shift particularly important to global economy?
5. How does the structure of Chinese economy compare to that of the USA?
6. Which service sector contributed the most to the GDP growth in China in 2015? What accounted for this significant contribution?
7. What is the author’s outlook for the service sector growth in 2016 and further on?
8. What, according to the author, are the main hinders to growth in services?
9. How does Beijing encourage the shift to service economy? Have these efforts proved to be effective?
10. How does the service sector influence the employment in the country?
11. How does the author asses the pace of growth in service sector?
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