From $172 pesos ($9) to $207 pesos ($10.82).
Ok don’t get excited. The above is not an hourly rate but the daily minimum wage.
Wow! That’s pretty darn cheap. Why were factories moved half way around the world to a country that stole our intellectual property?
tj:Because labor were even cheaper there than Mexico.
Now wait a minute tj are you accusing our JCs willingly moved to China disregarding intellectual property theft for extra profit & increased executive profit sharing benefit?
tj:Oh yeah.
Yep.
Add to this that the Latin Americans are next door, are the wrong pigmentation, from the “south”, and repeat illegals… And are a great wedge issue for every election.
The maquilas are the factories just across the US MX border. Many US companies relocated there, the Rio Grande river was heavily polluted due lack of environmental protection or enforcement. There was some backlash in the US.
Another reason to move to China where the pollution was too far away to immediately affect us.
Assuming the numbers are accurate, the average annual Chinese income is about $2,500 more than the Mexican, but I expect that Chinese plants are more automated and therefore the workers more productive. That said, the annual income of the Indian worker is $2170 per year, or based on a six-day work week about $7 a day (reported). The unreported wage for workers can run closer to $2-$3 a day in many cases.
Well China wages have gone up quite a bit but the 1 billion potential customers is a strong argument also.
The 10+ year talks about increasing China wages but hopes from foreign corporate who own China factories that the increased wages will drive sales of their products.
Not sure what Steve means by ‘shiny’ but it doesn’t sound positive. At the same time, investing in production in a large potential market sounds quite rational. For example, BMW built a SUV production plant in South Carolina because of the large market here in the US. Is that ‘shiny’?
You are right. DesertDave, make a note, DrBob2 and I agree.
“Shinyness” is a combination of arrogance, greed, hypocrisy, and corruption. Example: “Shiny” JCs that can’t wait to sign off on what the PRC requires: JV with domestic partner, and technology sharing with that partner, to get at those 1B potential customers, then cry a river, and demand the US government, which they hate, “do something” about the Chinese stealing their technology, which they had agreed to share.
Fearless forecast: the foreign auto brands in China will continue to lose market share, because the domestic brands, having learned, from them, how to build competitive products, eat their lunch. Anyone here notice, the all conquering, richly profitable, Jeep brand, has been withdrawn from China, due to plunging sales? The Chinese know how to make very nice SUVs now, so it’s “so long, and thanks for all the fish”, to Jeep.
