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Where China Goes To Outsource Its Own Soaring Labor Costs
Zero Hedge ^
| 07/25/2014
| Tyler Durden
Posted on 07/25/2014 7:01:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
30 years ago, the great outsourcing wave took millions of US low-skilled jobs and planted them right in the heart of China, which was about to undergo the fastest industrialization-commercialization-financialization experiment in history. $26 trillion in bank assets later, the world's biggest housing bubble, and a teetering financial system that every day depends on Beijing making the correct central-planning decision (of kicking the can one more day, of course) or else the biggest financial collapse in history will take place, all lubricated by years of inflation in everything and most certainly wages, and suddenly outsourcing jobs in China is not all that attractive. In fact, it has gotten so bad that China itself is now forced to outsource its own labor to cheaper offshore markets. Such as this one.
Ethiopian workers strolling through the parking lot of Huajian Shoes factory outside Addis Ababa last month chose the wrong day to leave their shirts untucked. Company President Zhang Huarong, just arrived on a visit from China, spotted them through the window, sprang up and ran outside. The former Peoples Liberation Army soldier harangued them loudly in Chinese, tugging at one mans aqua polo shirt and forcing anothers shirt into his pants. Nonplussed, the workers stood silently until the eruption subsided.
Shaping up a handful of employees is one small part of Zhangs quest to profit from Huajians factory wages of about $40/month - less than 10 percent the level in China.
Ethiopia is exactly like China 30 years ago, said Zhang, 55, who quit the military in 1982 to make shoes from his home in Jiangxi province with three sewing machines and now supplies such brands as Nine West and Guess?. The poor transportation infrastructure, lots of jobless people.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: china; outsourcing
To: SeekAndFind
2
posted on
07/25/2014 7:04:05 AM PDT
by
RightGeek
(FUBO and the donkey you rode in on)
To: RightGeek
Starvin Marvin finds work?
3
posted on
07/25/2014 7:05:14 AM PDT
by
buckalfa
(Long time caller --- first time listener.)
To: SeekAndFind
4
posted on
07/25/2014 7:09:25 AM PDT
by
RoosterRedux
(Obama: Race is his cover...jihad is his game.)
To: SeekAndFind
It’s an interesting comparison.
China wasn’t and isn’t vulnerable to the misadventures of its militaristic neighbors.
Ethiopia it seems, will be increasingly affected by what it’s neighbors are doing.
5
posted on
07/25/2014 7:10:20 AM PDT
by
SMARTY
("When you blame others, you give up your power to change." Robert Anthony)
To: RightGeek
Had to happen.Ethiopians? Land locked, starving, desperate--just what the doctor ordered.
My mother visited Addis Ababa once in her world travels. She was, of course, appalled at the poverty. NOW, since they broke with Eritrea, BOTH countries are far WORSE off. Way to go.
OF COURSE, they adapted to the normative world alphabet, A-Z, and use normal numbers, 1-10.
To: SMARTY
Ethiopia it seems, will be increasingly affected by what its neighbors are doing.In other words, business as usual for those lovely African garden spots.
I ASSUME that the Russians, as usual, will be providing weapons to all (and any) sides.
To: SeekAndFind
Boss acts like Captain Queeg.
8
posted on
07/25/2014 7:24:02 AM PDT
by
AU72
To: SeekAndFind
Ethiopia was a net food EXPORTER, thanks to Oklahoma State University back in the 1950's and early 60's. They shared farming techniques, technology, seed improvements, and everything else. Then, as usual, the Socialists took over. You may have heard about Ethiopia's reputation since then.
Africa (and Socialism) wins again.
9
posted on
07/25/2014 7:24:24 AM PDT
by
Teacher317
(We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
To: Teacher317
“Ethiopia was a net food EXPORTER...in the 1950’s and early 60’s...Then, as usual, the Socialists took over.”
That is something that many Americans don’t appreciate - Ethiopia was a great nation (the only African nation not colonized by Europeans), brought low by socialist policies and a harsh communist dictatorship (the Derg). Their former dictator (Mengistu) now lives in Zimbabwe, after having massacred a half million in his Red Terror. Collectivist policies devastated agriculture, and starvation was a political weapon of the regime.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Derg were driven from power, and when the civil war with Eritrea was resolved around 2000, Ethiopia was open for business. With over 90 million people with rock bottom wages, they were ripe to compete as low-cost producers. The Chinese set up a lot of operations there, resulting in a decade of very high growth rates in GDP (from a very low base).
Ethiopian-Americans, like Cuban-Americans tend to be more conservative than other immigrants from their respective regions, having experienced real socialism in action. They are majority Christian, and the Ethiopian kingdom of Axum was among the first countries to accept Christianity. Ethiopians tend to be pro-American, and one of the largest Ethiopian communities outside of Ethiopia, is around Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. Republicans should really do more outreach to them.
10
posted on
07/25/2014 8:06:07 AM PDT
by
BeauBo
To: SeekAndFind
I guess the Chinese paying their Vietnamese workers $100 a month was just too expensive.
11
posted on
07/25/2014 8:11:35 AM PDT
by
blueunicorn6
("A crack shot and a good dancer")
To: RightGeek
Where’s our beloved Freeper — CNN?
Maybe we need a Chinese version of the slogan: “Bring back Chinese jobs now!”
12
posted on
07/25/2014 8:14:32 AM PDT
by
SeekAndFind
(If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
To: SeekAndFind
Where China Goes To Outsource Its Own Soaring Labor Costs May I suggest Detroit.
To: SeekAndFind
Ethiopia is now where Japan was in the 20s, S. Korea in the 60s and China in the 80s.
The only competitive advantage any of these countries had, at the time, was their low labor rate, which allowed them to get low-skill jobs in and gradually increase their skills and therefore labor rate. Japan and SK are now, of course, first-world nations, while China is in part.
Those who object to these jobs going to low-wage countries, either because they “take away American jobs,” or because they “exploit the workers,” are preventing the people in these countries from accessing the only really proven way of climbing out of poverty. Personally, I wish the Ethiopians all the success in the world.
BTW, there is unfortunately no guarantee that low wages will lead to the Japan/SK/China bootstrapping process. Much seems to depend on cultural and political factors in the particular country.
14
posted on
07/25/2014 9:26:25 AM PDT
by
Sherman Logan
(Perception wins all the battles. Reality wins all the wars.)
To: BeauBo
Sounds like Obama’s plan for America... He comes schooled from the region’s Soviet apparatchicks.
15
posted on
07/25/2014 9:44:09 AM PDT
by
lavaroise
(A well regulated gun being necessary to the state, the rights of the militia shall not be infringed)
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