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Fast-rising labor costs in China's competitive manufacturing regions are expected to keep more US investment at home and create up to 3.2 million new jobs there by 2020, according to a report from the Boston Consulting Group.

However, foreign direct investment from the US might not shrink in the coming years, a partner of the consulting company said on Sunday.

"US manufacturers are expected to continually inject as much money as in previous years into China's manufacturing sector. Their investments might shift to supply products for Chinese domestic consumption instead of exports," David Lee, a partner in Shanghai, said.

It was predicted that the country's cost advantage for many products would decline by 10 to 15 percent, mainly because of China's rising wages, which are growing about 20 percent annually.

As a result, the world's second-largest economy may no longer be the default low-cost manufacturing location for the US in the long run, the report said.

Lu Zhongyuan, deputy head of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said last week at a news conference that the rising cost of labor was one of the main factors that was likely to lead to a slowing economy in the five-year period starting 2016, with a possible average expansion rate of less than 8 percent.

China's export-led and labor-intensive companies might be the first to face problems because of changing economic conditions, said Yuan Gangming, a researcher at the Center for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The Boston Consulting report said that 15 percent of US imports from China could be reshored, meaning the products would instead be produced and sold in the US.

US President Barack Obama last week accused China of "gaming" the trading system to its advantage and to the disadvantage of other countries by manipulating the yuan.

The US Senate is scheduled to vote on Tuesday on a currency bill that could lead to levies on Chinese goods.

Questions:

1. Why are more jobs predicted to move from China to the US?

2. Who will be voting on a bill leading to taxes on Chinese goods?

3. What percentage of US imports is expected to be produced and sold in the US, instead of China?

Answers:

1. Because of fast-rising labor costs in China.

2. The US Senate.

3. About 15 percent.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

?Christine Mallari is an intern at China Daily. She was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in a nearby suburb before moving for college. After recently graduating from the University of Iowa with a degree in English, Journalism and Mass Communications, she moved to Beijing to work with China Daily. Though she has been working in journalism since high school, this is her first time doing so abroad.