In view of the unhealthy tendency of China's economic development to "separated from the real economy", how can we maintain and strengthen the position of the manufacturing industry? This article believes that the decline in the proportion of manufacturing industry is a general law of the evolution of the industrial structure. We should not be entangled in the problem of its proportion, but must think deeply about how to promote industrial optimization and high-quality development.
After discussing the paradox of manufacturing innovation (manufacturing innovation is contrary to increasing employment) and the "Baumol's disease" of low productivity in service industry, this paper believes that we need to let producer services separate from manufacturing and cultivate new producer services at the same time. In order to give more scientific and macro guidance to all localities, we suggest that the central government abandon the reference of "keep the proportion of manufacturing industry basically stable" and formulate a guiding index of "proportion of manufacturing industry + proportion of producer services" in the revised 14th five year plan. This is conducive to the evolution of China's industrial structure towards a more scientific and reasonable direction, to manufacturing innovation and technological progress, and to the high-quality development of the whole national economy.
