Vietnam Is the New China: Globalization’s Victors Hunt for the Next Low-Wage Country

Labor has become a scarce commodity in China, and so companies needing workers and seeking high profit margins look to other nations, including Vietnam, Bangladesh or India. A symbiotic system once supplied jobs and eliminated poverty for the Chinese and provided the West with cheap products, report Alexander Jung and Weiland Wagner. But with more stringent labor laws, an economic boom, a devalued US dollar and inflation, Chinese workers balk at low wages and substandard conditions. China mastered manufacturing – and now sets its sights on competing in technology and other high-paying sectors. “China's planners know that their country has no future as a low-cost producer,” explain Jung and Wagner. “Following in the footsteps of Japan and South Korea, they are converting their industrial base, hoping to catapult Chinese industry to the high-tech level.” Companies may find it expensive and even futile relocating to new countries, chasing after the lowest wages. Demands for fair wages and improved workplace standards in China will rock global markets and could eventually influence other countries to follow suit. – YaleGlobal