8/7/2019 China - Lewisian turning point?
1/12
Cheap Chinese labour:
end of an era?
8/7/2019 China - Lewisian turning point?
2/12
Cheap Chinese labour:
end of an era? What do we know about it?
A typical day of a chinese worker
Scramble! Recent riots
Lewisian turning point
Data analysis
Have we reached it?
8/7/2019 China - Lewisian turning point?
3/12
What do we know about it?
Chinese products everywhere and in all areas of life
Chinese 'quality' - associations
Are their products necessarily of bad quality?
iPhone, Foxconn (Motherboards)
Own brands: Lenovo (former IBM), China Mobile, Bank of China, Air China,
Great Wall Motor
No-name products
Wages
1 March 2004 first minimum wage law
~ 150$ / month ~ 29000HUF
0.4-0.7$ / hour
8/7/2019 China - Lewisian turning point?
4/12
A typical day of a chinese worker
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
W O R KW O R K
24/724/7
W O R KW O R K
24/724/7
8/7/2019 China - Lewisian turning point?
5/12
A typical day of a chinese worker
Workers are underpaid for overtime work.
No annual leave, maternity leave or marriage leave. Workers are not paid for sick
leave.
No evaluations of occupational hazards. Protective equipment is not adequately
provided.
Overtime work totals 300 hours during peak seasons.
Sometimes, workers only get one day off in a month.
Draconian punishments
No trade union or other institutions
that represent workers rights.
8/7/2019 China - Lewisian turning point?
6/12
Let's start a riot
Sure. Just make sure you are not employed by a Chinese company.
A Chinese employee of Foxconn Technology Group jumped from a building to his
death Tuesday, state-run media said, in the 10th suicide this year at the
world's largest contract maker of electronics, such as the iPod, Dell computers
and Nokia phones.
Foxconn's massive plant employs more than 300,000 people. It is the size of a city,
it might be inevitable.
Cases:
missing iPhone interrogation
21 year old worker after night shift
Honda: better working conditions and pay rise
8/7/2019 China - Lewisian turning point?
7/12
Lewisian turning point
Developing countries' industrial wages start to rise, if a point is reached, when
labour has to be drained from the local tasks (eg: farming).
8/7/2019 China - Lewisian turning point?
8/12
8/7/2019 China - Lewisian turning point?
9/12
8/7/2019 China - Lewisian turning point?
10/12
So, have we reached it?
Chinese labour is still pretty cheap by Western standards.
GDP per capita incomes in China are a tiny fraction of those Western World,
it is almost impossible to argue that the era of cheap Chinese labour is overit is almost impossible to argue that the era of cheap Chinese labour is over.
China's domestic markets are not to be forgotten either.
Causes of a payrise:
inflation
soaring prices
frozen wages
severe downward pressure after the great crisis in 2008
8/7/2019 China - Lewisian turning point?
11/12
Sources
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20006402-503543.html - China Seeing Dawn of a Labor Movement?
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2010/02/27/apple-child-labor-china-history-sketchy-manufacturing/ - Apple Used Child Labor In China A History Of Sketchy
Manufacturing
http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/investigations/2010_08_10/index.php - An investigation of suppliers of dollar general
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37436341/ - China is finding out even cheap labor has limits
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/25/tech/main6518193.shtml - Another Suicide at China Electronics Plant
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/industrials/signs-growing-chinese-labor-movement/ - Signs of A Growing Chinese Labor Movement
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_50/b3912051_mz011.htm - Just How Cheap is Chinese Labor?
http://www.economist.com/economics/by-invitation/questions/era_cheap_chinese_labour_over - Is the era of cheap Chinese labour over?
http://www.indexmundi.com/china/#Economy Statistical Data about China's Economy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Lewis_(economist)#Lewisian_Turning_Point - Lewisian Turning Point
http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2010/06/15/Sir-Arthur-Lewis-and-Chinas-labour-unrest.aspx - What's behind China's labour unrest?
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20006402-503543.htmlhttp://thenextweb.com/apple/2010/02/27/apple-child-labor-china-history-sketchy-manufacturing/http://thenextweb.com/apple/2010/02/27/apple-child-labor-china-history-sketchy-manufacturing/http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/investigations/2010_08_10/index.phphttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37436341/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/25/tech/main6518193.shtmlhttp://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/industrials/signs-growing-chinese-labor-movement/http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/industrials/signs-growing-chinese-labor-movement/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_50/b3912051_mz011.htmhttp://www.economist.com/economics/by-invitation/questions/era_cheap_chinese_labour_overhttp://www.economist.com/economics/by-invitation/questions/era_cheap_chinese_labour_overhttp://www.indexmundi.com/china/%22%20%5Cl%20%22conomyhttp://www.indexmundi.com/china/%22%20%5Cl%20%22conomyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Lewis_(economist)%22%20%5Cl%20%22ewisian_Turning_Pointhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Lewis_(economist)%22%20%5Cl%20%22ewisian_Turning_Pointhttp://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2010/06/15/Sir-Arthur-Lewis-and-Chinas-labour-unrest.aspxhttp://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2010/06/15/Sir-Arthur-Lewis-and-Chinas-labour-unrest.aspxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Lewis_(economist)%22%20%5Cl%20%22ewisian_Turning_Pointhttp://www.indexmundi.com/china/%22%20%5Cl%20%22conomyhttp://www.economist.com/economics/by-invitation/questions/era_cheap_chinese_labour_overhttp://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_50/b3912051_mz011.htmhttp://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/industrials/signs-growing-chinese-labor-movement/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/25/tech/main6518193.shtmlhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37436341/http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/investigations/2010_08_10/index.phphttp://thenextweb.com/apple/2010/02/27/apple-child-labor-china-history-sketchy-manufacturing/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20006402-503543.html8/7/2019 China - Lewisian turning point?
12/12
Thank you for your attention!
Top Related