China’s economic recovery may predict the U.S.’s
The Ash Center sat down with Edward Cunningham and Philip Jordan, authors of Our Path to “New Normal” in Employment? Sobering Clues from China and Recovery Scores for U.S. Industry, a new report examining China’s post COVID-19 economic recovery in an effort to better understand what might lay ahead for America’s own attempts to rebuild from the economic destruction wrought by the pandemic. Q&A Edward Cunningham and Philip Jordan Ash: Overall, how would you characterize China’s COVID-related economic recovery? Cunningham: China’s recovery to date has been uneven, unfortunately reinforcing existing structural imbalances, and highlighting the probability that the Chinese economy may plateau below pre-COVID levels for an extended period of time. The higher value-added engines of China’s growth have all shown signs of weakness. Private companies, which make up the backbone of small- and medium-sized enterprises and urban employment, have found it harder to access the financial resources being marshaled by the government as a...