By Li Lan, Institute for Public Management and Human Resources, DRC

Research Report No 3, 2016 (Total NO 4886) 2016-1-18

Abstract: It is found through the “Questionnaire Survey on China’s Business Operators 2015” that in the context of China’s transformation from previous high speed growth to medium-to-high speed growth, the year of 2015 witnessed a moderate drop of business performance. In addition,business production and sales continued to decline with continuous price falls.Efforts were made for further destocking with prominent industrial polarization. The satisfaction level of business operators with their business performance registered lowest since 2010, a little bit better than the survey result in 2012. A larger proportion of operators think the current economy is “relatively cold” or “too cold”, and in a “relatively bad” or “very bad” situation, which to some extent shows that entrepreneurs’ confidence is weakened. In terms of prospects for the future, business operators have a limited expectation towards market demand, downward pressure on product prices remain high, and planned investment growth is low.The service industry especially modern service and high-end machinery manufacturing industries tend to recruit more workers, but there is a reduced labor demand in traditional manufacturing industry. It is also found in the survey that the decline in business orders tends to slow down and enterprise profits tend to grow.

Key words: macro-economy, business operation, prospects for the future, questionnaire survey