China’s economic growth slows amid stock market stumbles, floundering urban developments, and an aging workforce, Reuters has reported that China’s economic growth in 2016 is expected to slow.

China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to expand by 6.5% in 2016, down from 2015’s expected rate of 6.8%.  Reuters reports that this expansion is the slowest it has been in several years. While China’s economic growth is slowing, it is by no means a catastrophic decline. China’s 6.8% growth rate in 2015 has continued to win out against the U.S, which, according to the Wall Street journal, has had a growth rate of 3% through 2015.

While China’s slowing economic expansion may not be cause for immediate alarm, it is a reflection of the many issues that burden China’s economy.

        Of all the problems present in China’s economy, its own workforce poses the largest stumbling block. Both BBC and Reuters report that the average Chinese worker is growing older and older, and because of China’s controversial “one child policy,” there are not enough young workers to fully replace the aging generation once it finally retires. That said, an aging workforce is far from the only issue.

        As China’s economy rapidly expands and modernizes, the level of education the average worker possesses is beginning to pose a problem. According to a Stanford University study, only 24% of the Chinese workforce has attended some sort of secondary school. According to Reuters, the Chinese government has begun to address this issue by building massive “education parks,” large complexes where young Chinese workers will receive vocational and technological job training.

The goal of these planned education parks is to train Chinese students en masse to help meet China’s growing demand for a more specialized workforce. While the plan seems solid, there could be some possible issues in its execution. Reuters has reported that many of the teachers working in existing technical and vocational schools have little to no experience in the fields they teach. Additionally, the BBC reports that a good number of Chinese vocational schools have difficulty attracting students.

        It is clear that China needs an educated, young workforce to continue its current trend of rapid economic expansion. While the Chinese government does have plans in place to create the workforce its economy demands, there is no guarantee these plans will be effective.

Though it may seem like a paltry expansion, a 6% – 7% GDP growth rate is an almost breakneck pace of growth. However, as expansion begins to slow, the urban developments that were upheld by this rapid growth may begin to decline.

        As China’s economy has expanded, so has its infrastructure. Road, bridges, rail networks, and airports have sprung up rapidly throughout the country. In some instances – like China’s new high-speed rail network – this expansion has been extremely beneficial to the Chinese economy and people. While some infrastructure has led to economic booms, other efforts at expansion have led to economic bust. NPR has reported that entire airports and multi-lane highways in China are in a state of neglect, victims of rapid overextension, and improper allocation of resources. NPR cites the city of Luliang as one such victim of this urban expansion. Originally built as a coal mining town, the city built an airport, large expressways, and other public works, only to have the city effectively abandoned when the international price of coal severely dropped. Luliang’s airport only receives, on average, 3 flights a day, and the expressways leading in and out of the city are effectively empty.

        While China’s economic growth is slowing, it still maintains one of the fastest rates of growth in the world. A 0.3% drop in projected GDP expansion is nothing to panic over, but it is still important to examine the social and economic factors that have caused this decline in growth. The primary concern is that if the Chinese government is unable to address these issues, they could further burden China’s economy. A younger workforce needs to be raised to replace the aging one, China’s economy has a rapidly growing demand for a specialized workforce that the country currently lacks, and many of urban developments in the country lie in a state of neglect. The risk for further economic decline exists. One can only hope that these problems can be fixed.