Thursday, July 13, 2006

Labor Rates in China

Back to the Bureau of Labor Statistics again, in a reseach paper filed by Judith Bannister of Bejing Javelin Investment Consulting Company the real hour labor rates were investigated. In the report she cites the difficuty in obtaining consistant and accurate data across the provences. It's reported that the fully burdened average hourly wage in China is $0.57. Bear in mind this is for an employee that is forced to work 14 to 16 hours a day in often times unhealthy conditions, six to seven days a week, live in employer provided apartments for which they a high percentage of their take home, purchase inadequate meals provided by the employer. These condtions have eeb discussed in previous posts. These same employers rarely let the workers take time off even for marriage or bereavement. So even though they may make $0.57 an hour what is the effective net pay of the average employee?

Is this free trade or free labor for our US multinational firms?

You can view the report here.

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