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The Coming Decline of 'Made In China'
retroworks writes: Adam Minter documents the move of Chinese steel mills to Africa, and speculates that China's years of incredible rates of economic growth may already be over. This one steel mill's move to Africa, by itself, increases Africa's production by two-thirds. "The officials in Hebei Province who oversee the company may have felt they had no choice. First, they undoubtedly faced political pressure to reduce their environmental impact in China: reducing production of steel, cement and glass -- all highly polluting industries, especially in developing countries -- will have a direct impact on Xi Jinping’s pollution goals. (Starting in Hebei will have the added benefit of cleaning up polluted, neighboring Beijing.) Second, Hebei may simply be at a loss as to how to scale back businesses that they recognize have become massively bloated. Officials in China’s construction-related industries clearly have too much capacity and too little demand." It's also possible that these moves will be encouraged by China's transition to clean economy, though that could be a bad thing for pollution in Africa.
And what will all our fine corporate interests do when they run out of wage slaves?
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Americans won't stand for "slave wages" in Africa.
Most Americans are unconcerned about the working conditions of the people who make their products. Even those who express concern are often using it as a cover to push for protectionist policies that hurt the very people they claim to be helping.
They would boycott anything "made in Africa" because they'd fear the workers are slaves.
Most bonded labor (slavery) occurs in agriculture. Manufacturing jobs almost always result in a huge improvement over rural poverty. Such a boycott would be harmful and counterproductive.
Wrong. Jobs are created by demand. Not the other way around. Look at thr great depression as proof? With no demand due to lack of funding led to no jobs which led back to a lack of demand in a 15 year loop.
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Technicians are going to be needed to service the machines. Anyone who grew up in an area influenced by the car industry will tell you that. We all started training to be technicians and millwrights years ago.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
It's not really about genes, it's about education and economics. As women become more educated, they start to take control of their own reproduction, and that inevitably means lower birth rates. And as for economics, in undeveloped countries, a large number of kids is economically advantageous, as they serve as a work force for whatever business the family is engaged in. In developed nations, large numbers of children is typically an economic drain (since you're more likely to work for someone else as an employee), not a financial advantage, so there's pressure to have fewer children.
My mother and father both came from families of five children each. That generation had considerably fewer children themselves - around three on average. Children from those families (my generation) had fewer still, averaging about two. So, within my own extended family, I've seen the exact same trend that we're seeing nationally. As such, anecdotally, I'd have to disagree with your prediction, as I've seen evidence to the contrary across three generations now.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
Some farming is being done by migrant labor. But a good deal of farming is being done by GPS controlled tractors, auto-bailers, etc. My wife's family are farmers, and they farm 1000s of acres with less than a dozen people. Tell me that isn't automated.
Easy thing to say when you aren't the guy working 16 hours without a break making over-priced iShinies.
Yet, if you actually ask factory workers in poor countries what they want, one of their biggest desires is for LONGER HOURS. Many of them are rural migrants, often women, separated from their spouses and children. Their focus is on making as much money as possible, in the shortest time, so they can go back to their home village. They are not interested in TVs in the break room, spacious dormitories, or other things that YOU may think are important. Stop projecting your values and priorities onto people that you know nothing about.
Instead of looking at factory workers as unthinking drones, that need first-world do-gooders to decide what is best for them, perhaps you should consider what they have to say, about their own lives:
Do campaigns for “ethical supply chains” help workers?
The voices of China's workers
If Americans wanted to help the Third World out, they could eliminate their agricultural subsidies. That would lift most of Africa out of poverty in a single year.
The Elite China has no soft corner for their own brethren from the interior. They would happily out source and drive the wages down even further if they could get a few more yuans. Exactly like our US corporate titans who would out off shore everything to increase their income, and keep the income off shore to reduce taxes. Neither of them have a shred of kindness to rest of their own countrymen. It is them who are looking for low wages across the globe. They are as shortsighted as the oil men who triggered the Iraq war in 2003 hoping to lock in the Iraq oil for themselves. They may be able to start something, but they may not be able to control it very well.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Easy to say when you are, if the alternatives are starving on the street or working similar hours in a field for lower wages. Just because the jobs suck doesn't mean that they're not better than the available alternatives. The problem is that this used to be a stepping stone to a modern economy and is now just a stage when a country is exploited by companies that can easily move to the next target.
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The problem is that this used to be a stepping stone
Factory wages in China are rising by 10-20% per year. That is far faster than wages grew in the west during our industrial revolution. So a factory jobs is not only still a stepping stone to a better life, but more so than ever before. They are going from rural poverty to a middle class life in a single generation.
just a stage when a country is exploited by companies that can easily move to the next target.
Because Mozambique has the same supply chain efficiency and infrastructure as Guangzhou? Sure. Good luck with that.
> "it's OK for a Chinese factory worker" to work in what we could consider to be inhumane conditions
I work for a multinational, and when I go into one of our JV plants, they're mostly indistinguishable from conditions in our Canadian, US, and Mexican plants. The only real differences are the prevailing wages and social security system which is not typically considered part of the wage, and in China, it's a huge additional cost because it's not just retirement social security but things like housing, etc.
They don't work much overtime, as our production and sales are predictable. Instead there are multiple shifts (more jobs for more people).
Google- and Apple-style transportation is free. Lunch is free (and quite good). Families are together at night and weekends.
While there are property bubbles in some of the famous big cities, one can still temporarily purchase a home in much of China are very low cost compared to say, middle America. Food is cheap. Consumers goods are cheap. Health care is cheap.
Life is good for these people.
--Jim (me)