To get prices that low, workers see just 12 cents a shirt, or two per cent of the wholesale cost. That’s one of the lowest rates in the world—about half of what a worker in a Chinese factory might make
I don't understand why there's a fixation on Chinese wages. The current reality is that Chinese wages are now higher than Mexico's, which are in turn middle-of-the-road for Latin America:
Mexico's hourly wages are about a fifth lower than China's, a huge turnaround from just 10 years ago when they were nearly three times higher, according to new research by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.Stagnant salaries in Mexico, fueled by strong population growth, will give Latin America's second-biggest economy an edge over China in the U.S. market, Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Carlos Capistran said on Thursday.
Average hourly wages are now 19.6 percent lower in Mexico than China whereas in 2003 they were 188 percent more costly, according to the Bank of America study.
The phenomenon largely began with China and regardless of presumed Chinese wage growth, which is actually more attributable to an uptick in exchange rate of the Renminbi in a nod to those complainig about the peg, China remains symbolic of the severe economic pressure to which the American lower and middle classes have been subjected for two decades.
Some are more concerned with Americans than Chinese, just as some are more concerned with Chinese than Americans, although Americans who are concerned over the economic well-being of Americans are derided, with individuals attempting to speak to their own self interest termed nativist xenophobes and worse, while Chinese doing the same are not.
This does not change the basic facts, however. Impoverishing a market while wrangling over access to that market and being dependent upon it is so stupid as to be irrational, for all involved.