At the other end was a huge supply of poorly educated labor. Meanwhile there was a dearth of middle-ranking technical personnel. In the last few years policy in the mainland has reversed course, and the system is now producing large numbers of the middle-ranking staff people that business needs.
周至元進一步指出，以前大陸重兩端，在頂端的，是少數為國防需要而大力栽培的「尖子」，其下則是數量龐大的底層勞工，中級技術人才很缺乏，近幾年大陸政策才開始反轉，大量培養企業所需的中高級人才。