I think it is the opposite. BECAUSE less steel frames were used, they could hire lots of unskilled labor.
Steel was strictly state-controlled. It had a status of "strategy" material. So it was "scarce". The first generation of uber-rich families were created because these families (of highest government officials) could get their hands on these strictly controlled materials. They simply sold the rights of these materials, not the materials themselves, to the manufacturers at a hefty price.
I agree that steel requires more skilled construction workers. What I said is that because steel was scarce, more concretes had to be used in the construction. In turn, they didn't need to hire that many skilled workers to work on steels, and they could afford to hire more workers to work on concretes.
Think of building construction as a jobs programs for unskilled migrant workers, and why China doesn't move up to better more modern construction methods will make a lot of sense. They have the steel, they have the money, but they wouldn't employ as many people (for low wages, but enough to live) and so the entire point would be missed (I've had this explained to me many times by business men in China).
Steel was strictly state-controlled. It had a status of "strategy" material. So it was "scarce". The first generation of uber-rich families were created because these families (of highest government officials) could get their hands on these strictly controlled materials. They simply sold the rights of these materials, not the materials themselves, to the manufacturers at a hefty price.