No More “Made in China”?
Oct 8th, 2010 by Tsz Wai Jenny Ng
Right now, it is very hard to find any product which is not made in China. Many businesses have set up their factories in China to reduce the cost of production. According to the article “China loses competitive advantage as wages rise,” the businesses are starting to move their production sites back to U.S due to the increased wages for the Chinese workers recently.
In the corporation perspective, it is a reasonable decision to try to minimize any cost. However, why can’t the corporation think in the workers’ perspective? Moving the factory means that the worker would be unemployed. Their salaries are already relatively low compared to the workers in U.S. It is reasonable for the Chinese to demand for higher wages or benefits. Also, they are all skilled, and willing to work for long hours.
If the factories are located in U.S., it will cost more money to re-build the factory, buy the equipments and train the new workers. Some corporations have moved the factories to Mexico, or Vietnam. However, the similar labour issues could happen on those countries too. Why moving the factory when more money and work are needed when the corporations could simply raise the wages and gain more dedicated workers?
“China Loses Competitive Advantage as Wages Rise”
CBC News, July 8, 2010
<http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/07/08/con-china-costs.html>