(Photo/Xinhua)

China’s abundant human resources underpin the sound development of its economy, and guarantee its demographic dividend and talent dividend.

By the end of 2018, the country’s workforce — those between 16 and 59 years old — stood at around 897 million, accounting for 64.3 percent of the total population.

Despite the decline in China’s working-age population since 2012, a workforce pool of nearly 900 million still holds out great potentials for its economic development, said Guo Guannan, with China Academy of Macroeconomic Research.

Such an ample supply of labor force is among the largest in the world, he noted, adding that the country’s surplus labor force in the rural areas remains large, providing rich labor resources for its industrialization and development of the service sector.

Moreover, the average years of schooling for the working-age population in China reached 10.5 years. By 2020, the figure is expected to rise to 11.2 and that for the newly added workforce will reach 13.5.

Guo said marked improvement in the workforce’s level of education will help transfer demographic dividend into talent dividend and make human resources underpin the country’s socio-economic development.

As China’s aging population continues expanding, experts suggest that national strategies for balanced demographic growth in response to the aging of the population should be implemented.