The end of the era of cheap labor in China

>The end of the era of cheap labor in China. China was originally thought to have unlimited cheap labor, and its extraordinary economic achievements in the past 20 years were mainly based on cheap labor...

The era of cheap labor in China was originally thought to have unlimited cheap labor. The extraordinary economic achievements in the past 20 years were mainly based on cheap labor, but this situation has now changed. The latest issue of the English-language "Time" magazine quoted industry figures as declaring: "The End of Cheap Labor in China." The report quoted Helen Qiao, chief economist at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, as saying that over the past decade, real wages for manufacturing workers in China have grown by nearly 12% annually. This is the result of China’s double-digit economic growth over the past 20 years. According to reports, Harley Seyedin, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, believes that various signs indicate that the inevitable conclusion is: "The era of cheap labor in China is over." This new situation has a huge ripple effect and also affects the global economy. Let’s start with China. For example, wages have not been raised for many years, leading to a series of major worker protests last year. But wage increases have also brought changes to western China, where officials have been encouraging investment. Over the past year, many multinationals and Chinese companies have expanded or relocated to the West, where labor remains cheap. From China's perspective, this effect is exactly what it wants. Andy Rothman, chief China overall strategy analyst at CLSA Asia in Shanghai, said that people in places like Sichuan or Henan can find a well-paying job close to home instead of having to travel thousands of miles away from home every year to work and live in company dormitories. Is this a bad thing? This situation is also good for the world. Poor countries in Southeast Asia and India can replace China and get cheaper job opportunities. And it is also good for developed countries. According to an assessment by a Boston consulting firm, some jobs are even gradually being transferred back to the United States due to rising wages in China. Wham-O, which manufactures cheap toys, announced that it will withdraw half of its production lines from China and Mexico to create more jobs in the United States. The report pointed out that perhaps the most important effect of rising wages in China is that Chinese people have more money in their pockets, and this is in the interest of everyone, especially China's major trading partners, who are eager for China to increase consumption to reduce the huge imbalance in international trade. While higher wages may affect exporters and Chinese companies across a range of industries, they are an inevitable consequence of China becoming a richer country with a stronger currency. And this situation will be beneficial to the world, such as Southeast Asia, India and other poor countries can get more and cheaper job opportunities. Many multinational companies have long begun to focus their production in China on the broader Chinese market. HP's factory in Chongqing specializes in manufacturing laptops for China's domestic market. In a survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China eight years ago, 75% of chamber members focused on the export market. Last year, this number changed dramatically: 75% of the companies surveyed said that China's production mainly supplies the Chinese market, mainly because the Chinese are gradually becoming richer.