• China has largely exhausted its pool of cheap rural labour
  • But employment in manufacturing has passed its peak
  • And there remains a large pool of underemployed, especially in the construction sector
  • That pool could be redeployed into productive activities should China find a source of demand growth large enough to accommodate them
  • Without rebalancing that is unlikely to happen
  • So, for now, the Chinese labour market does not threaten to drive up global inflation, though many other factors do