Made in China

I've heard it many times in many places but the reality is sinking in now that I can see it for myself: labor in China is cheap. Our hosts have a cleaning lady who comes by twice a weak to clean their apartment. They are not rich by any measure but the cost of having her come and do some of the housework is affordable, especially in light of the benefit of having those hours they would have spent cleaning now free for other pursuits. There are car washes out on the street where, in the dead of winter, several guys will clean your car for you with buckets of soapy water and rags. The garabage man is a large flat-beg truck with a guy or two who toss bags of trash onto the bed. Everywhere there are people doing manual labor in situations that you just don't see in the USA. This cheap labor is the driving force behind so many companies moving manufacturing over to China. All other factors aside, it is actually possible to assemble a large force of labors who will, by hand, do just about anything that needs doing. And they will do it at a price that is cheaper than automation anywhere else in the world can provide.

Part of the cause of the cheap labor is the large migrant work force that occupies many of the cities. These migrants are almost always from the rural areas where the opportunities for livelihood consist of farming, and, like in the USA, many of the younger people are looking for something more rewarding than tilling the soil. In China, though, the government requires you to be registered and residing in a certain city and you are not technically allowed to work outside that area. But, like the traffic laws here, the letter of the law and reality are not necessarily highly related. Many of the workers from the cities are essentially illegal immigrants working for low wages because it is better than not having any work at all back in the country. The opportunities are in the cities and even if it isn't 100% legal, they come anyway trying to make a better life. Think of this as the same problem the US has with Mexico but without the international border.

I'm sure there are many other complexities I don't understand right now and that this is not the whole story but it is one significant factor influencing the labor market in major Chinese cities. Obviously, there are jobs that will never be able to be done manually (making computer chips, for example) and until China embraces automation, companies in such lines of business will be few and far between. In the mean time, the "Made in China" label will continue to be the results of millions and millions of labors hand-working products into existance.