Lies, damn lies and statistics
I don’t want to bore everyone with my ranting and raving about Globalisation and how the West is doomed, but allow me one more night. Just a few interesting tidbits from here and there that I’d like to include. I promise to find a different topic for tomorrow.
First off is the news today that China has leapfrogged the UK to become the fourth-largest economy in the world. That doesn’t really surprise me. What does surprise me is how they managed this. Effectively, what they did was hold a ‘census’ of their economy – sending people round with clip boards to find out what businesses are doing and how much money they’re making. By doing so, they managed to find an extra 17% in their economy – or $280 billion! Yeesh.
The Chinese economy (GDP) is now worth around $2 trillion. They are behind the US (who are way out in front with a GDP of $11.7 trillion), Japan ($3.8 trillion GDP) and Germany ($2.4 trillion GDP). The UK's GDP is around $1.8 trillion. The increase the Chinese found in their economy is equal to the entire GDP of Turkey.
Secondly, it’s not just British graduates who face a tough job market on graduation. China’s student population is increasing by around 700,000 students every year, yet around 500,000 students struggled to find graduate jobs last year, even though higher education is much more highly regarded over there than it is here. Quite a surprising statistic, and it just goes to show that no economy, no matter how booming, is perfect.
General Electric’s John F. Welch Technology Centre in Bangalore employs 1800 engineers alone (400 of them are PhDs!).
Finally, around 100,000 Americans can expect to have their taxes processed for them in India this year. Now that is a ‘lol’ worthy statistic.
First off is the news today that China has leapfrogged the UK to become the fourth-largest economy in the world. That doesn’t really surprise me. What does surprise me is how they managed this. Effectively, what they did was hold a ‘census’ of their economy – sending people round with clip boards to find out what businesses are doing and how much money they’re making. By doing so, they managed to find an extra 17% in their economy – or $280 billion! Yeesh.
The Chinese economy (GDP) is now worth around $2 trillion. They are behind the US (who are way out in front with a GDP of $11.7 trillion), Japan ($3.8 trillion GDP) and Germany ($2.4 trillion GDP). The UK's GDP is around $1.8 trillion. The increase the Chinese found in their economy is equal to the entire GDP of Turkey.
Secondly, it’s not just British graduates who face a tough job market on graduation. China’s student population is increasing by around 700,000 students every year, yet around 500,000 students struggled to find graduate jobs last year, even though higher education is much more highly regarded over there than it is here. Quite a surprising statistic, and it just goes to show that no economy, no matter how booming, is perfect.
General Electric’s John F. Welch Technology Centre in Bangalore employs 1800 engineers alone (400 of them are PhDs!).
Finally, around 100,000 Americans can expect to have their taxes processed for them in India this year. Now that is a ‘lol’ worthy statistic.
posted by Atif at 12/21/2005 12:05:00 am
2 Comments:
Belated welcome to the blogosphere Atif.
Interesting topic, but I don't share your alarm at the rise of economies in the East. These things will even themselves out over time and economies have a habit of adjusting.
It can also be seen as chickens coming home to roost. The West has expoited the low wages over there for so many years through sweatshops and the rest. And really when we think of how much else has been plundered over the last couple of hundred years, a few service sector jobs leaving the UK is small potatoes.
I know what you mean about quality though. I've stopped phoning National Rail Enquiries after speaking to so many operators who have no idea about travelling in Scotland. The service was really good before the shift though.
If you are fascinated by globalisation read the lexus and the olive tree
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