Exactly, the prices won't change on our end. Lego has gone the way of every other soulless corp and sent work to places they can pay people .02 a day or something.
Isn't the Czech Republic Europe's version of Mexico when it comes to cheap labor?
Apple have been singled out for attention this week by one of the UK tabloids, for the China operation - I researched, and in terms of cost of living etc., Foxconn (who don't just make stuff for Apple, but pretty much everyone) are rather better than some of the other plants/provincial expectations.
If people are shocked by the Chinese earning what is actually living expenses (food and shelter provided) + > typical rural income per month, they don't want to look at some of the Mexican and Eastern European facilities.
*shrugs* They're developing countries. Czech republic/Romania are not as backward, or as cheap, as some would like to think - but rural Hungary is still very cheap, and employment/business controls are very lax. I don't think that it's the employment costs per hour that are the issue for many firms, but the employment costs including healthcare provisions, government legislation, and pensions requirements.
Take the UK. Compared to average wage (£23K plus a few quid), someone on an assembly line is lucky to earn half that on a normal employment basis. Most will be well below that in a rural area. Cost of living is high enough that half that income is simply not enough to live on for many people, unless they're living at home right next to the factory.
But for the employer, it's a greater cost, you can add about £3,000 a year in National Insurance contributions (plus the national insurance contribution that eats into the worker's income), insurances, the requirement to cover statutory sick pay and so forth....
In China, the workers are working a LOT harder, but they're making >1/2 national average, have three months maternity leave available (which is better than they'll get in rural areas), and generally use the factory work as a launchpad for saving cash, instead of being trapped in a low-income position which happens in the UK.
You know all this, of course, but it's insane the way Western Governments seem incapable of balancing support for those who cannot work, with making it worthwhile for those that can work to be employed by corporations that can employ them.
I read something interesting about working in China. Apparently, treatment wise, the best companies to work for are the illegal ones operating under the government radar, either making things for the black market, or designer knockoffs for export. Since the companies are at risk of being shut down, they treat their workers like gold to prevent anyone from ever having cause to report them to the government.
That wouldn't surprise me; the 'poorly treated' (quotes because it is a relative term, andI think that the Chinese are in fact bright enough to work out if they're unhappy with their treatment generally - the electronics firms aren't prison labour camps) workers are generally employed according to Chinese employment legislation - I think that even their pay is controlled - to a degree - by the Government.
There are plenty of sanctioned ripoffs in China, though. Less and less as they find their currency getting stronger and they're more reliant on Western firms for expansion.
Yeek. swifteagle works for them in Enfield, though he's more corporate, writing stories for Bionicle and such, and they just transferred him out there from NYC a couple of years ago.
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It would be worthwhile if Lego got cheaper for kids. But... it won't.
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Exactly, the prices won't change on our end. Lego has gone the way of every other soulless corp and sent work to places they can pay people .02 a day or something.
Isn't the Czech Republic Europe's version of Mexico when it comes to cheap labor?
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Apple have been singled out for attention this week by one of the UK tabloids, for the China operation - I researched, and in terms of cost of living etc., Foxconn (who don't just make stuff for Apple, but pretty much everyone) are rather better than some of the other plants/provincial expectations.
If people are shocked by the Chinese earning what is actually living expenses (food and shelter provided) + > typical rural income per month, they don't want to look at some of the Mexican and Eastern European facilities.
*shrugs* They're developing countries. Czech republic/Romania are not as backward, or as cheap, as some would like to think - but rural Hungary is still very cheap, and employment/business controls are very lax. I don't think that it's the employment costs per hour that are the issue for many firms, but the employment costs including healthcare provisions, government legislation, and pensions requirements.
Take the UK. Compared to average wage (£23K plus a few quid), someone on an assembly line is lucky to earn half that on a normal employment basis. Most will be well below that in a rural area. Cost of living is high enough that half that income is simply not enough to live on for many people, unless they're living at home right next to the factory.
But for the employer, it's a greater cost, you can add about £3,000 a year in National Insurance contributions (plus the national insurance contribution that eats into the worker's income), insurances, the requirement to cover statutory sick pay and so forth....
In China, the workers are working a LOT harder, but they're making >1/2 national average, have three months maternity leave available (which is better than they'll get in rural areas), and generally use the factory work as a launchpad for saving cash, instead of being trapped in a low-income position which happens in the UK.
You know all this, of course, but it's insane the way Western Governments seem incapable of balancing support for those who cannot work, with making it worthwhile for those that can work to be employed by corporations that can employ them.
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There are plenty of sanctioned ripoffs in China, though. Less and less as they find their currency getting stronger and they're more reliant on Western firms for expansion.
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