Any guilt knowing Chinese people are paid $120/mo.for making U.S. products?

Question

Did anyone watch the PBS program about labor and wages in China?
Women (typically) work 13 hrs/day 7 days a week for $120/month making products for export.
Usually they have a production life of 10-15 years until their bodies give out from this schedule.
Of the population of China over 1 BILLION of them live in poverty and an estimated 20 million others live affluently.
How is exporting U.S. labor to countries like China good for the U.S. or those other countries?
Wouldn't you be willing to pay a couple dollars more if you had to to keep things "Made in America"??????
How are all of the millions of the people in the U.S. who HAD those labor jobs now supporting themselves?

Answer 1

the Chinese are clever, they have conditioned the American consumer to pass up American made goods , for cheaper quality Chinese made goods.

Answer 2

I don't feel guilty because I cannot find clothing, home decor items, jewelry and nick-knacks that are made in the US. I do have concerns, not about Chinese workers as they are doing well according to their Communist government, but about the quality of consumable products.
Note: for those who think socialism is a good idea, take a look at China's statistics. Where is their middle class?
For many years, I have been collecting Chrystal figurines. The collection was once worth something and many of the pieces cost a significant amount of money. Now I can buy these in the one dollar stores. So...there goes my little investment. Still, that is only aggravating.
Eating and drinking products made in Mexico and China -and many other countries- is a real concern. I cannot avoid eating these products as the manufacturers do not have to state where all the ingredients come from. So, while I was watching for the "made in" information, little did I know....

Note:
My brothers company uses ingredients made in China and they found their supplier moving the product, which could not get wet, by hand from the building to the shipping container in the rain. They dropped them as a supplier.

Answer 3

The main point is that in China even jobs that would be considered "Good" are not highly paid. I have several friends in China who work for the China Banking System, low level managerial jobs. They are paid the equivalent of about $150 per month. However, what is not often known (or considered) is that most workers in China do receive a fairly significant end of year bonus. For these friends the bonus is usually about 2 or 3 times their regular pay. Only the very top level jobs are paid well (by USA standards). Also the rent on an apartment in China can be as low as $25 per month. The apartments are very livable and by Asian standards are at least average. I think there a lot of countries other than China that treat their workers much worse. But I will agree with your premise that workers in most developing countries are not treated the same as workers in the USA. GOOD QUESTION

Answer 4

True but it's now a virtually monopoly of Chinese and other third-world goods these days, so the blame can't be placed on the consumer alone. And other than buying Chinese slave labor goods at Walmart, prices aren't really much lower over all. You'd be hard-pressed to find truly American-made goods on the market these days. Though Toyotas are made in America (Kentucky), so there are still options out there. The problem is not with consumers, it's with globalization and all these agreements, laws, and tax breaks and exemptions that are given to corporations that want to outsource to increase their profit margin by keeping costs at a minimum. We need to go back to the days of protective tariffs where those choosing to import foreign, slave labor goods are required to pay additional taxes in order to acquire these goods. This, and forcing stringent inspection and quality control standards for all imports would also stem the flow of these imports and protect American-made goods and jobs by making American goods more competitive price-wise with cheap foreign imports. When jobs are actually kept in America with all it's higher pay and benefits, Americans will be actually able to afford to buy more and at higher prices.

Answer 5

Your figures about Chinese wage are not really acurate. It is true that rural China wages are about as low, but it is not so low in large urban area, like Shanghai, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Guangdond, Chongching, HangZhou, Beijing, Dalian, Hefei, Nanjing, Shangdong and many other places. For your information most housing in those place are higher than what you can find in the US. My 150sqm condominium in Shanghai has cost me around 300 000USD... So there is very little foreigner living in China, and most are own by some of those workers... A good urban salary is about 3000RMB (legal incomes) which is about 380USD a month, BUT chinese people are VERY clever, and many succeed to multiply their income by 10 by doing some underground business... All in all Chinese people save a lot of their money, and very little is deposed in Chinese banks... They like cash, or gold, so they stash it...
They are 400 millions chinese that have been "digout" from the poverty, and in the next 20 years, they will have another 400millions out of poverty... So all in all, they are doing pretty well, as their economy is jumping 10% every year, so in 10 years, those will lived better than you and me!!

My advice move there if you want to make money!!

Answer 6

Thanks for asking how the people affected by this are doing because in my part of the country we are not doing very well. I had one of those jobs and I can tell you this I made almost 20 times that much. The company I worked for showed us films of Chinese in labor camps near the coast, working night and day just to send their money home to their families. They slept in bunks stacked 3 high and only took time off for a little sleep and to eat.
I was shocked to say the least. The problem for us is no new jobs have come our way. We got extended benefits and govt. sponsered retraining but it really hurts especially considering the influx of immigrants vieing for jobs too and the jobs are just not there. North Carolina was pretty much the capital of the manufacturing of textiles and furniture. We got hit hard.
Edit: So now we face the the real problem...being forced to choose cheaper imports because of the economy here. Its a catch 22 and our own government did it to us. Ironic

Answer 7

But how will boycotting Chinese made products improve the living conditions of the people in China? Will reducing the revenue of the factory they work in, increase their wages? By working in these factories making the junk we buy, they get much higher wages and a higher standard of living than they had working on a collective farm.

That being said, if you might want to buy things Made in the US, because of better quality. I buy Craftsman Tools from Sears because the quality is much better. I like American cars.

However, is it productive for Americans to make undershirts? Who graduating high school goes to work in textiles? T

People who had those labor jobs have to get jobs elsewhere. There used to elevator operators and they had to get other jobs. If it was a huge problem, unemployment would be skyrocketing.

Answer 8

I don't have guilt, as I'm not directly oppressing them.
I have friends who view most people as nothing more than fuel for industry. What took me over the edge is their lack of reform. The leadership will keep the poor uneducated. They sell organs from "criminals". They force the exploitation of buyers, by requiring the maximization of profits. Ethics never enters their equation, because of this.

I think in our world of free trade it is important know where stuff we ingest comes from. That would be a driving force to the leaders to clean up their act. It would apply to all countries.

Answer 9

Why don't you go ask those 20 million Chinese if they feel guilty. This is a free society, if a company can find cheaper labor outside the U.S., they're obviously going to go for that. I don't necessarily agree with it, but what do you expect us to do about it?

Answer 10

Converting chinese income into US dollars is virtually meaningless.. as are all international currency conversions. Sure.. they may make $120 a month... and pay rent of $15 a month. And spend $7 a month for food.

Answer 11

Okay, stop bying products made in China. Their problem then though will be that their bodies will give out from this starvation way sooner than 10 to 15 years.