For years, we've been hearing about U.S. jobs going to China. We've been told they have a cheaper labor force or that they just have more people to fill the factories. But according to the 15th annual Global CEO Survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, China's actually facing a lot of the same labor concerns that we in the U.S. are.

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And top on that list is the need for the right talent (see Top Trends Affecting Distributors in 2012). More than half (54 percent) of the China respondents to the survey indicated the talent crunch is preventing them from "innovating effectively"; that compares with a global average of 31 percent.

And only one-third of the China and Hong Kong-based CEOs were "very confident" they have or will be able to find the type of talent they need to execute their strategies in the near-term.

"It's a dilemma for CEOs. There's a huge demand for talent, more so in China than elsewhere, to match its potential for domestic growth," says Nora Wu, PwC Asia Pacific Human Capital Leader, in a press release. "Ironically, the 'China speed' – that extraordinary pace where products are designed, factories equipped and production ramped up in a small amount of time – appears to hit a speed bump when it comes to creating the right talent."

Could this be more incentive to reshore manufacturing in the U.S.? (Read Trend Point to Less Offshoring.)

Other highlights on industrial manufacturing from the survey:

• 35 percent of industrial manufacturing CEOs think new products and services are the main route to growth
• 84 percent of industrial manufacturing CEOs are changing R&D and innovation capacity this year
• Nearly half of industrial manufacturing CEOs say it's becoming harder to hire talent, and 71 percent want to spend more time developing the talent and leadership pipeline

See the entire report at PricewaterhouseCoopers.