关键词: 单位劳动力成本, 劳动生产率, 中西部地区, 东南亚地区

Abstract: Based on 2002-2011 data, we compare unit labor cost in China with that in major competitive countries, and find that the unit labor cost in China is already higher than that in Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. Specifically, the unit labor cost in East China is higher than that in Indonesia during the period, surpassed that in Mid-West China and Thailand in 2007, and topped that in Malaysia in 2011, while the unit labor cost in Mid-West China is higher than that in Indonesia during the period, exceeded that in Thailand in 2009, and overtook that in Malaysia in 2011. Our research also shows that the phenomena is mainly driven by the excessively rapid growth of labor cost in China. Moreover, given China’s disadvantage in labor cost and demographic structure, Mid-West China is not as attractive as Southeast Asia countries to manufacturing enterprises, which can explain that why Mid-West region failed to receive the industrial transfer from East region in time.

Key words: Unit Labor Cost, Labor Productivity, Mid-West China, Southeast Asia