Posted on 03/10/2010 1:07:04 PM PST by Lorianne
BEIJING -- Managers of a factory that makes Columbia Sportswear garments didn't spend the recent Lunar New Year holidays with family, as virtually all 1.3 billion Chinese did.
Instead, the Beijing Topnew managers packed wine and fruitcake gifts and drove through rural villages. There, they bowed and thanked parents for sending young adults to work in their busy plant.
They talked up wage increases and new benefits. They urged families to send the workers back again.
"It's a tough task for the managers," said Larry Liu, Topnew general merchandising manager. "There are no hotels, and some days they end up spending the night with workers in their homes."
As Americans struggle with high unemployment, Chinese manufacturers face a worsening labor shortage a year after laying off millions. Factories pass on increased expenses, meaning American consumers could see prices rise even as the global economic slump continues.
The labor crunch is occurring because assembly workers can find more desirable jobs elsewhere in China's economy, which is growing rapidly amid a huge stimulus program.
Increased costs are pushing some brands to shift certain contract manufacturing out of China. The transition to other countries ranging from Vietnam to Bangladesh is happening much earlier than expected from China, whose labor supply was once considered inexhaustible.
(Excerpt) Read more at oregonlive.com ...
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/03/chinese_factory_workers_cash_i.html
The irony is staggering. Of course, the Chinese aren’t persecuting the business class of people.
Jobs in China??
“Increased costs are pushing some brands to shift certain contract manufacturing out of China. The transition to other countries ranging from Vietnam to Bangladesh is happening much earlier than expected from China, whose labor supply was once considered inexhaustible.”
Pretty soon these companies are going to run out of cheap sources for labor. What’ll they do then, look on mars? Guess the shoddy Chinese-made garbage at Walmart is going to get more expensive now, huh?
25 years ago, at graduation, my Russian professor decided to break the news to me and tell me that my degree would become worthless and that I should’ve studied Arabic and Chinese, instead. How right he was! Maybe then I’d still have a job today...in China!
>> There, they bowed and thanked parents for sending young adults to work in their busy plant.
Classy. On the other hand, that’s how socialists will want future employers to behave in their fantasies.
Well.., at one time it was said learning Spanish was important... but now we’re going to have to add Chinese to that. Oh..., and you can forget about English...
If unemployed freeprs take jobs in China will they still be burned in effigy by other freeprs, and if they are, will it matter?
All to fill your local Wal Mart and Sears with their crap. How nice.
So I guess when we get laid-off the thing to do is hide in an empty shipping container going to China, and get a job as an illegal immigrant to China.
Time for another Human Rights crackdown...gotta keep those factories running.
Labor shortage = Don’t pay enough
Detroit is running out of welfare moms.
What a concept! China will outsource its low-level jobs to the US. I can’t want to learn Chinese and then get a job at a call center that answers consumer complaints from the other side of the globe.
Well Obama didn’t say he was going to create any jobs here.
When are the freighters to China coming to pick up all of those eager workers from our inner cities? ;-)
{Que Deckard voice-over}
“...That gibberish he talked was city speak, gutter talk. A mishmash of Japanese, Spanish, German, what have you. I didn’t really need a translator, I knew the lingo, every good cop did. But I wasn’t going to make it easier for him...”
Do Chinese androids dream of American electric sheeple?
When they run out of cheap labor, they can come here!
Their maoist (Hu Jintao) understands people need jobs and income. Out maoist (0bamao) is an idiot and is trying to destroy the Country.
This is a like a contest between Fascist China and Communist U.S.
That’s what happens with the one child policy. I’m not surprised. In 20 years, they will be older than the US, and right up there with Japan.
It only works when the culture has an appreciation for the business that employs their young.
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