Pembelajar Blog

China has long been a source of inexpensive products for the rest of the world due to lower labor costs and a large labor force. Recently, however, a spate of bad publicity and long brewing policy initiatives are combining to raise wages and overall costs. Consumers around the globe may feel the results in their wallets soon.

Foxconn is one of the largest and most well known Chinese electronics manufacturing companies. They have contracts with almost all the major electronics business, including Apple, HP, Dell, and others. To their chagrin, a series of recent suicides at their plants has caused conditions there to fall under global limelight, and although they have denied conditions are bad and the number of annual suicides within their 800,000 strong facility is actually below the national rate of China, they have ceded to the pressure and increased wages. Workers at Foxconn, on average, will now be receiving roughly 2000 renminbi per month, or the equivalent of $300 - a 100% increase from the current average. And they're not alone in raising wages - a Honda plant located in China is increasing wages to end a worker strike there, and Beijing has raised the minimum wage of the city to 960 renminbi.

China has also long promised to free its currency from the dollar, and may do so soon, increasing costs to exporters.One of the effects of these changes is that companies are looking to other Asian nations, like Vietnam and Indonesia, to be their manufacturing centers - much like many American companies operating out of Mexico for the same reasons. Another will be, very likely, a ripple of increased prices in the global market for everything China produces - which is, pretty much, everything.

So get out there and shop, people - this is one case where waiting may not assure you the best prices. But if it means conditions will rise for the average Chinese worker, hopefully we can accept the price increases as a good thing overall.

Detail : http://www.laptopical.com/labor-costs-on-the-rise-in-china--consumers-might-soon-feel-a-pinch-67396.html