• emizeko [they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      As of 2020, average wages in China increased to 97,379 yuan from 37,147 yuan in 2010.

      that first number is about $15,379

      for comparison the US number for 2020 is $35,977

      their median wage will pass the US in under 15 years I think

      • Parent [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Isn't a lot of their manufacturing advantage still cheap labor? Won't the manufacturing leave if wages reach that high? Or are they hoping the economy will transition to more service oriented jobs by then? Not really knowledgable on the manufacturing there, just wondering.

        • keepcarrot [she/her]
          ·
          3 years ago

          China does keep its currency deliberately cheap by buying US government bonds.

        • sysgen [none/use name,they/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          By now most of the manufacturing advantage is expertise and network effect. If you're in China you can get specialized parts in under a day by literally showing up to the factory and asking for a one off, which saves a lot of money, and you save on shipping and can iterate faster, and you can find skilled workers for literally anything in a week or two. So even if you're paying 2x as much for labour you still end up saving massive amounts of money.

          • Parent [none/use name]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Oh wow that's interesting. I kind of figured at this point something like that was going on. How'd you learn this stuff? Any good articles or books to read?

            • pooh [she/her, any]
              ·
              3 years ago

              If you can stomach listening to Tim Cook, he talks about that quite a bit in this interview. About 9 minutes in is the most relevant portion.