Jokes about the U.S. becoming “Europe’s Mexico” are commonplace, but now high-priced consultants are pushing the notion in all seriousness.
They’re predicting that within five years certain Southern U.S. states will be among the cheapest manufacturing locations in the developed world—and competitive with China.
Wages for China’s factory workers certainly aren’t going to rise to U.S. levels soon. BCG estimates they will be 17 percent of the projected U.S. manufacturing average—$26 an hour for wages and benefits—by 2015.
Ford’s flagship Dearborn Truck plant outside Detroit, for example, contracts non-union workers to do inspection and repairs—long the coveted jobs, that workers could get only with many years’ seniority—at $10 an hour with no benefits.
That’s more than the Chinese average now, but less than what’s projected for 2015.
Wages will run from $7.50 an hour (general labor) to $10 (assemblers) to $16 (programmers). Federal minimum wage is $7.25.
No comments:
Post a Comment