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a b s t r a c tMotivated by the high probability of inconsistent and insufficient information from official statistics in China, this research paper conducted an out-of-sample forecasting competition between grey prediction and straightforward extrapolation for quantity and quality of laborers in China under the assumption that the performance of grey prediction is superior in dealing with uncertain and insufficient data inputs. In line with previous comparative studies on time-series forecasting techniques, the purpose of this study was to verify that the GM(1,1), GM(1,1) rolling and FGM(1,1) models derived from grey system theory would provide forecasts that are at least as accurate as the straightforward extrapolation approach for China's labor variables. The findings revealed that the forecasting efficiency of GM(1,1) and GM(1,1) rolling models were superior to straightforward extrapolation and FGM(1,1). The results can offer valuable insights and provide a basis for further research in model building for short-term estimation under the circumstances of data incompleteness or information inconsistency.

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The aim of this study was to investigate whether differences in information and communication technology (ICT) readiness and access across countries were fundamentally related to the variable of English language adoption. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was utilized to comparatively examine the developments of ICT readiness and use among 149 countries categorized into four groups based on levels of English language adoption and economic development. The results of the comparative analysis showed that English language adoption is not a dominant factor in determining the global digital divide. The results suggest that much of the differences in ICT development across countries are attributable to levels of economic development. Limitations and implications for additional studies on specifying key factors widening the global technology gap are discussed.