The End of Cheap Chinese Labor
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- Опубліковано 21 бер 2023
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Will there be more episodes of China Actually?
No thanks
I already have Nebula but, respectfully, you should consider putting in some conclusion to your videos. Both on Nebula and with SponsorBlock, they just abruptly end and it is awkward. It feels like something is missing every time. I love your channel and always click on new videos, so I hope you take it as constructive feedback and you grow even faster. Thank you!
@PolyMatter -Evan is kinda corporate, I would drop it
I am a Chinese college student studying in Macau (this is why I can log in to youtube). My impression of Made in China is that almost all the things with visible trademarks around me are made in China, and the really high-end European, American, Japanese, Korean and Taiwan products The product label cannot be seen, because China is responsible for the assembly and integration solution provider, but China is overcoming this phenomenon and manufacturing real high-end products by itself.
About housing prices: Regarding China's housing prices, my understanding is: China is a land-oriented economic development model, buying a house = buying national bonds = the country's future prospects. When the country's prospects are all the way up, the house will become more and more valuable, and the repayment of the loan will become less and less, but this will only make the college students/graduate students who graduate later and work more and more painful.
Regarding education: It is worth mentioning that the college entrance examination is extremely unfair. China can be roughly understood as having three types of universities: A CLASS, B CLASS, and C LASS. In 2022, high school students in Beijing have a 46% chance of being admitted to A CLASS universities, while high school students in my hometown of Jiangxi Province have a 41% chance of being admitted to A, B, and C universities in 2022. Beijingers get into better universities just because they are Beijingers and their test papers are easier.
Supplement: Part of the content is contrary to the content in the video. More and more students can't accept to engage in physical work after studying in college, so more and more people hope to continue to graduate school, to avoid entering the workplace or hope to get a better job, so China's Postgraduate examinations are also gradually creating new records for the number of students. And the graduates/postgraduates contributed a lot to the unemployment rate after the lockdown. On the one hand, the society scoffs at those who graduated from technical secondary schools/college/vocational high schools, and the wages of those engaged in manual work are not optimistic, and they are very tiring.
About childbirth: I asked several female friends around me, including girlfriends, that they all resisted childbirth. The reasons include the great pain it brings, the huge damage to the appearance after childbirth, and the hard work of raising children. and time for yourself.
I think it's important for people to know that the vast majority of child Labourers work in agriculture not in sweatshops. The same was true in the Victorian era but child labor in factories were more visible to the urban middle class so it has more cultural impact
Is child helping on family farm count as child labour? Or only counts if he/she working on others place?
@@shivanshna7618 Thankfully something which is considered a crime against humanity has got legal definitions, a kid driving a tractor in Ohio is different from Uzbekistan child cotton pickers
@@shivanshna7618 Think meat processing plants.
This is probably true in some countries but child labor in African countries is a bit different.
My great-grandfather who grew up in Florida in the 1950's didn't learn how to read because he worked on farms instead. Especially in the Orange Groves. He was tough as nails though, kept working in his garden into his 70's
Children, also known as free labour in agricultural societies ☠️
I mean go to any farm now and you'll see the whole family working. It's just the reality of life that farmwork is labor intensive and wages go up, no one wants to do back breaking labor on a below subsistence wage. It's no wonder farmers get so many subsidies, otherwise no one in the West would be profitable
PolyMatter has jokes 💀
I am a Chinese college student studying in Macau (this is why I can log in to youtube). My impression of Made in China is that almost all the things with visible trademarks around me are made in China, and the really high-end European, American, Japanese, Korean and Taiwan products The product label cannot be seen, because China is responsible for the assembly and integration solution provider, but China is overcoming this phenomenon and manufacturing real high-end products by itself.
About housing prices: Regarding China's housing prices, my understanding is: China is a land-oriented economic development model, buying a house = buying national bonds = the country's future prospects. When the country's prospects are all the way up, the house will become more and more valuable, and the repayment of the loan will become less and less, but this will only make the college students/graduate students who graduate later and work more and more painful.
Regarding education: It is worth mentioning that the college entrance examination is extremely unfair. China can be roughly understood as having three types of universities: A CLASS, B CLASS, and C LASS. In 2022, high school students in Beijing have a 46% chance of being admitted to A CLASS universities, while high school students in my hometown of Jiangxi Province have a 41% chance of being admitted to A, B, and C universities in 2022. Beijingers get into better universities just because they are Beijingers and their test papers are easier.
Supplement: Part of the content is contrary to the content in the video. More and more students can't accept to engage in physical work after studying in college, so more and more people hope to continue to graduate school, to avoid entering the workplace or hope to get a better job, so China's Postgraduate examinations are also gradually creating new records for the number of students. And the graduates/postgraduates contributed a lot to the unemployment rate after the lockdown. On the one hand, the society scoffs at those who graduated from technical secondary schools/college/vocational high schools, and the wages of those engaged in manual work are not optimistic, and they are very tiring.
About childbirth: I asked several female friends around me, including girlfriends, that they all resisted childbirth. The reasons include the great pain it brings, the huge damage to the appearance after childbirth, and the hard work of raising children. and time for yourself.
@@hongchenfei 1987
i mean he is not wrong most of us would be farmers if the industrial revolution did not happen
As a Chinese, I found your content very accurate. A major issue in China is the “state religion of education” forces a lot of parents to train their only child to do well in exams and they are not trained in any other aspects in life. Eventually a large group of graduate students will not have the skill nor the resilience to work as a skilled labor in factories. Factories have to pay way more for the same skill 20 years ago, and this is only getting worse.
是的，回想起来我第一次坐高铁都不知道应该是如何一个流程，中国的教育更多的是考试而非教育如何学习、思考和生活
Tell me a country where graduate students have the skills or the resilience to work as a skilled labor in factories
When graduate students need to work as factory workers, the country's economy is already dead.
@@leoli8819 Not the point. A high pressure, high stress environment where one mostly learns how to take tests is terrible at producing well rounded individuals. When you hire a new graduate, the intent is that the previous generation will pass down the knowledge before they hit retirement age and it gets lost. The social skills, the ability to think outside the box, etc are just as valuable as tests, but kids don't "cram" for that.
I think the main objective of this type of education is not to teach them but rather act as a filter to select the best students, due to the disparity between large population and the available resources.
The end of these videos never fail to make me frustrated and saying "that's it? He was still making a point..."
It can't be true, China has clean Air, they do NOT pollute the whole planet burning Coal and they don't pillage all ocean sealife at all
get nubula lol
Ikr
@@ernstschmidt4725 no
i thought the same thing. he needs to actually END the video, and then transition into an ad. it was very disappointing.
Cheap labour is usually a transitional period, not a permanent one.
I think a part of the idea, 15-20 years ago, might have been that if China could make its citizens stop having children, it might be able to encourage them to have more. But thats just my thought, I have no evidence to back it up.
Coughs in Bengali*
@@onesmallstepatthetime6914 *Bengali and they're industrializing more quickly than basically any other country in human history. They still have most likely a decade or two before sweatshops can be entirely phased out, but they're practically the poster child for cheap labor's transitoriness.
@@p00bix Bangladeshi* Bengali includes indian people too.
@@andrewalltheway I know. I'm referring to the Bengali language. There is no 'Bangladeshi' language
1960s..."The end of cheap Japanese labor"
1980s..."The end of cheap Korean labor"
2010s..."The end of cheap Chinese labor"
Next Indian labour?
Followed by Nigeria
@@sakshamagrawal6984 followed by Pakistan
@@dhirajgawande007 what's next?
@@sakshamagrawal6984 india and nigeria are yet decades away.
Fascinating. And so many aspects of this story deserve a closer look!
This was such a great video. I learned a lot and I‘m glad I watched it. Thank you.
For the graph at 5:40, I think its a good idea to add population into the industrialization graph for better understanding.
Love your charts and how you explain the population dividend. Please do more in-depth economic topics, everyone needs to understand.
Coincidently last night on our news there was a topic about this. Turns out it is currently 18% cheaper to manufacturer in our own country (Belgium) than to let it be made in China. Its early days, but more and more company's will shift once they calculate their costs again.
This video talks abouth south american countries, but Belgium is compared to that way more expensive in hourly wages..
I so look forward to the day that the powers that be conclude that we have to bring back manufacturing home. Every dollar you sent to China helps build another aircraft carrier or military aircraft.
@@nzs316 and you're giving them your product for free because they will copy it and resell it for cheaper
@@nzs316 Says the guy who types his comment on a _Chinese_ manufactured keyboard, looking at a _Chinese_ manufactured monitor, his had on a _Chinese_ manufactured mouse, with a _Chinese_ manufactured iPhone in his pocket.
@@shotelco And your peripherals are not!
@@shotelco and? he said he looks forward to the day, not that it is here. also fuck do and the ccp
And imagine thay adults, in Asia culture, mostly take care their parents.
So, suddenly you have hamburger generation where you take care the old and young at the same time.
That's better than letting your parents rot in a nursing home
额，你可能对东亚社会存在误解，东亚社会的储蓄率超级高，如果他有两个家庭等着他去继承财产，基本等于这个人什么工作都不用干就有超级多的钱和房子
@@user-nx4dj8or3b Understandable albeit you assume both parents are rich.
Btw, I am using google translate, so we might have mis communication.
@@Dominus_Potatus 如果你查询中国过去几十年出生人数，而不是宣传中国崩溃的反华宣传，在新型冠状病毒爆发之前，中国每年出生人口在两千万左右，也就是说中国人口总和生育率在过去几十年都在1.8以上，每一个家庭生育1.8个孩子,中国的一个孩子政策除了极个别地区，只在汉族的中国共产党身上强制执行（少数民族有豁免政策），中共官员想要晋升需要响应国家政策，也就是说只能有一个孩子，在少数民族不执行，这些官员在城市都有自己的房子，也就是说都有几十万美元的资产。所以说大部分只有一个孩子的家庭都比较富裕，比较贫穷的家庭和地区大部分都有两个孩子和以上，中国出生人口大幅度下降是在全面放开生育政策之后。你可以查找数据。
I've lived in China and some of these countries for several years. In many ways labor cannot be fully commodified, so comparing the price of "unskilled" labor across countries isn't an apple to apple comparison. What is priced into the labor are many of the factors mentioned in the video: infrastructure, supply chains, security, quality control, education, market access, and what I call the Henry Ford effect. When your employees are paid enough, they become your customers driving growth and generating what Robert Reich calls a virtuous economic cycle. So cheap labor is good for a export economy, but not a consumer based economy. Some of these countries had many years and a head start on China, so there is another prerequisite factor put under the nebulous category of "political will". China planned and engineered their economic rise, while too many developing countries fight the inevitable or follow wherever the wind blows them.
China will too have that wind. Unless they introduce protectionary policies, they may lose their manufacturing to India and other poorer countries. I'm not saying it's all bad, the average joe is much better off and a middle class now exists. Just don't expect that current account surplus to continue, because historically it hasn't.
Just like how the English usurped the Spanish with the cheap labour, and the Americas replacing the English.
The labours being paid much higher is true, but they are not willing to consume is another matter.
@@DeadManWalking-ym1oohigh unemployment rate doesn’t mean it’ll stay forever. Young people are realizing the difficulty and turning to labor jobs. New economic circulations are under forming. Unlike most other countries, China has enough control to let people not starve even without economic circulation and eventually get over the transition period.
Well said and well OBSERVED
Lies again? Champions League Cheap Athletes
These graphics are wonderful. Excellent ways to present data
Main reasons why big manufacturing companies picked China is not because of cheap labor that can be get anywhere in the world, but because the sheer scale and efficiency of their manufacturing, infrastructure. For eg Iphones most the parts are also sourced from China. If any change to design Apple can just make a phone call to China. China spent decades investing in infrastructure making their logistics one of the best in the world. And competitive standard public education making all sort of transferable skills labour pool available for such industries. No where in the world you can have orders delivered to your contries as fast, as on spec, on demand, competitive shipping and pricing as China.
Not to mention about OEM manufacturing, western brand now is just ordering a order production on china OEM company and slap their logo on top of it.
My cousin who is a seafarer said that Chinese ports are mostly automated it barely have a dozen people in there when their cargo ships docked. It is insane. It is no longer cheap labour anymore but the lack of it and the speed they are modernizing their logistics and manufacturing capabilities.
@@siarnaqfrost4968 which rendered many jobless when jobs were already hard to come by even before pre pandemic era.
@@siarnaqfrost4968 欢迎来中国旅行
@@MrNajibrazak their automated solutions are used for the Chinese society
And as for joblessness in most other countries is because of the lack of alternate skills.
Just look at how much the government is investing or subsidising the education sector and you will know
Nice video. 20 years late though. I have worked for a multinational company in India. When an entire planet wants to hire labor in Bangalore 'because it's cheap' - that sudden, abnormal demand does something to prices and price structures. We don't live in a vacuum. Same thing has happened in China. It was long ago it was advantageous to hire in those countries.
Indian labor is unskilled, unproductive, and it might be rude to say, but they are "rowdy"... I heard about the vandalism in Foxconn factory by Indian workers. No wonder companies prefer countries like Vietnam where people are obedient.
i had no idea😅.
Do you have a prediction on our expensive future? As I foresee the job market shrink and prices on goods rise with loss of cheap Chinese labour. Any recommendations for avg ppl? :)
@@iXpertMan China is already using AI on the backend
Just imagine them operating 247 with AI with all the cheap 5G technologies and industry 4.0 implemented throughout China
Can the other cheap labours countries compete ?
@@Cheesecake99YearsAgo yes. Easily, because China is crumbling. The rot is beginning to surface.
That awkward moment when you are watching this on an apple device
@@bjoe631 I keep wondering how people earn money in financial markets, i tried trading bitcoin on my own made a huge loss and now I'm scared of investing more
@@Florencecoxx That won't bother you if you trade with a professional like *Mr Gary Mason Brooks* my coach, you may have come across him on interviews relating to bitcoin and stocks. He trades, manage trading account and offer mentorship program for clients who wish to become professional investors.
@@bjoe631 You allow people to trade for you? that's interesting, I would love to learn, hope it’s safe?
@Queen OF Love This is the Fourth time I'm seeing someone talking about Mr Gary as there are lot of testimonies about him, do you know him ? if yes , did you invest with him.?
@@Florencecoxx It's 100% safe and legal, He’s an expert trader on stocks and bitcoin. I basically do nothing but collect profits, he was able to get me in early on most of these stocks and I exited just at the right time, his analysis was really on point..
You shouldn't have left out the part about stability and economic policies of nations, there are multiple reasons for why companies do not prefer a lot of African or Latin American countries despite the low costs of labor there. Mexico for example has a massive problem with gangs, drug cartels, corruption, etc.
Mexico is close to the US so goods transportation is also low cost
China supports those Mexican cartels. Decoupling from China would reduce a lot of the world's stability issues.
And China has the CCP that closed down the country for 3 years. Mexicos problems is less cartels and more incompetent policies but yet they are seeing a huge growth in manufacturing. They are next door to US (biggest market in the world) and have free trade within North America. They are in great position to take many of those jobs from China and already are doing so. In fact, many Chinese firms are opening up shop in Mexico joining American, Japanese and Korean companies that seem to dominate many parts of Mexico.
also consistency. you only have to bribe the ccp.
in any other country you have to bribe multiple politicians, that may or may not be in office next year.
imagine having to bribe another politician.
@@namenameson9065 How lol? China bad
Fun fact:
In Croatia we have a historical figure that is named Stjepan Radić which is almost literally Steve Jobs
did stepjan invent iphone?
Hey Polymatter,
I find it surprising to not see any mention of China's supply chains. Tim Cook clearly mentioned that what keeps Apple in China is not its cheap labor anymore but the availability of suppliers and skilled workforce. And that goes the same for a lot of other globalized companies. China has already shifted their focus from cheap manufacturing to the advanced specialised manufacturing and services industries.
In some way you are right but I think that does not apply to the vast majority of companies
yes, Steve jobs said, they're not manufacturing in America as they don't have enough basic engineers.
true, in term of GDP size. But in term of employment?? I dont think so, there is no way you can migrate all of those cheap factory workers to service sectors overnight...
Thus, the factory might need to relocate somewhere else for most of the workforce ...
at that point might as well bring em back to the US lol
Only half of the 'Made in China' stuff is actually made there. The other half are partially assembled, shipped in & 'finished' there. The have the factories but the workforce is getting more expensive. IP theft has skyrocketed. The faltering economy, Xi going full on tyrant, investors beginning to have difficulties getting their money out. More gov interference in companies,, sanctions, increased risk of conflict with the likes of Taiwan.
What kept companies there was the sunk cost fallacy. Financial investments & time taken to go elsewhere. However with Covid shutdowns, new cases of covid, flu & gov measures etc is simply the straw that broke the camels back.
play lists and knowing which episodes are Nebula exclusive would make it so much more appealing.
I agree, Nebula is a little light on features. I am subscribed to it to support the creators, but it can be hard to use and I wish they would work it out..
@@froggieboy8 I had to unsubscribe due to wanting to save up Money for a laptop and VR.
But I'll be sure to rejoin Nebula next year after I have a new laptop. I do like supporting non UA-cam groups.
I would like an updated exploration on the places who avoided the middle income trap (beyond the 2012 date on the data shown in this video - great video, btw!
A great video as always from this channel. Thank you for the insights !
I remember the string of FoxConn suicides because of the horrible working conditions caused by Apple's greed for the cheapest labor.
apple hires the cheapest source. FoxConn treats their workers like shit. FoxConn has more influence over FoxConn's employees than apple who is merely a customer even if the largest
I haven't heard of this, what happened?
Have you seen the pictures?
The nets solved it.
@fdbj8795 I wouldn't belive anything that Apple says, unless it was something along the lines of "we only care about your money".
“In the city children turn from valuable assets into expensive liabilities”...
> Peter Zeihan has entered the chat.
This is moron-think. No children, no nation.
@Jack Smith you need a source for the sky being blue? Look out the window.
@Jack Smith Is that supposed to be English?
@Jack Smith What does this have to do with Zeihan? You're trying to claim that actually children in cities are working and in the countryside they're going to school.
When I worked at a large community college system in a large metropolis in the Pacific Northwest, 90% of our student population was Asian. Many of my students shared that if there was more than one child in the family, only the oldest boy was sent to college. All other family members were made to work and invest in that boy-child's education and success. Many of my students struggled with higher education. Some of that was a big cultural shift. In their home country, all family members "contributed" to a child's education (i.e., tutored them and in some cases, did their homework for them). In the U.S., however, having a family member write something for that college student was considered academic misconduct. This was shocking to many of my Chinese students who could not grasp that in America, achieving success on one's one was the drill--not "collecting" from all family members to succeed in one's class in an American college. Also, many of my Asian students were very quiet and passive. They had been taught in their home country to memorize facts and give them back in standardized tests. Critical thinking or thinking on one's own was not valued (so they told me). It was exhausting to try and get them to share their ideas as they did not see the value in that; instead, they wanted me to give them "the right answer" so that they could memorize this. Of course, this doesn't work when teaching writing composition. Unfortunately, many of my students ended up in a long succession of remedial or developmental courses before they could go on to transfer-level courses; and as most know, the longer the sequence, the bigger the drop out ratio. It was very sad and I ultimately took a job in the Midwest where I felt I could be of more. My best wishes to anyone who is seeking to better themselves through education. As first-generation college graduates, me and my sisters would tell you that it is the way up and out of poverty.
It may not be, it will depend on what field you study. The skills of a human being need to be varied and life-improving, more than narrow-focused. Although specialists will make more money, over the longer term.
Hmm I don't buy it because most most Asian kids born in the 70s or later, with exception of Japanese cannot rely on the parents to do their homework for them and get a passing grade. If you're talking about elementary school, yes. Idk where you got that from, someone was probably telling you that because you appear to be gullible. Asking your parents to do your homework, get two slaps across the face.
Man, that’s true for 1990s. Now it’s 2023. Things are completely different. Living in US literally makes people forget how fast things can develop.
I’ve worked as a technical instructor for a technical community college in the New England states and I can also relate to what you mentioned.
International students from China are either exceptional, or mediocre students who are trying to get by, or they’re from wealthy families and just here to party. Typically, the smarter, more motivated ones go on to state/private colleges for degrees in medicine or engineering. Those in community college are just trying to pass so they can transfer over state/private college programs or are there to not really learn anything but to waste time.
Love your graphs!
Fun fact: 10:13 you're talking about flights between Shanghai and SF, but the footage you used is "China Airline", which is the airline of Taiwan...I don't think they operate direct flights between US and Mainland China😂. Anyway this is a great video.
was looking for this comment.
为什么这些外国人每当谈到华人政治问题时都这么不专业
@@lotrlmao1648 We're hardly professional about our own political issues, so nothing new under the sun 😅
was about to address this as well haha
Same thoughts lol
Great video. Your graphics are amazing!
I'm Chinese, another interesting phenomenon I found is that everything has become so expensive over the past decade as well as wage rised but seems that China never reports high inflation rate, and the currency Yuan has really increased value since 2007
You have answered HUGE questions I’ve had for forever!!!!
7:23
"Economically speaking, kids are pretty useless."
-PolyMatter, 2023.
Economically speaking kids are worse than useless. They are expensive but worth it
What really? epstein and biden loved them 😢
@@BigBoss-ps6vk😮
@@BigBoss-ps6vk 😭😭😭
@@BigBoss-ps6vk Westerns love kids though, all of you.
Thank you for providing a direct link to this video in Nebula. I hate UA-cam, and all that they stand for. UA-cam does, at least in some part, shows the videos that I'm interested in. No doubt it is filtered / slanted to UA-cam's own agenda. Nebula on the other hand has many of the videos that I want to watch, but is difficult to navigate or get notified of new videos. I wish Nebula could be more friendly. The direct link helped.
Man, I learn so much from this channel.
I would love to see a video from you on western demographics. Yeah I know you mostly focus on Asian countries but it would be good to understand one's own situation from a demographic perspective.
For the west, Europe is semi fucked. They have demographic issues but they can support it a little with immigration. USA and Canada are pretty good for now. They are the most immigrant friendly places in the west and have really good numbers. I think the US is around 1.7 for fertility rates, which is one of the highest in the west. East Asia is super fucked. They have some of the worst demographics and don’t really like immigrants. Unless people switch to a different economic way or new technologies come out, they’re screwed.
we are also reproducing below the replacement rate but supplement that through immigration
The demographic issue with China compared to West isn't birthrates slowing down. That's a natural societal progression. The difference with the West is the sheer speed. They went through in like 40 years what the West did in 200 something years. This allowed many Western countries to gradually get used to slowly aging population with a shrinking workforce.
@@chinguunerdenebadrakh7022 and Japan is a good analogue and way to predict what will happen to China because it's right in between the west and China in terms of speed
@@chinguunerdenebadrakh7022 The reason why the West could afford 200 years while China only 40 ? Because of colonialism. The import based economies of the colonies served as a cushion for the industries of the West, captive markets that could only trade with their colonizers, discriminatory trade agreements which saw zero tax being levied on imports from the colonizer nation in the colony, but the colonizer would impose high duties on finished goods exports from its colonies except raw materials. This allowed them the luxury of a slow transition. Taiwan, South Korea, China etc are the first countries that have developed through market economics, not through gunboat economics. Their challenges and solutions will provide a pathway for other third world nations, especially those in Africa, a route to follow.
A lot of these companies moved to South East Asia as they want to stay close to the China market.
And do people still think Chinese factories still need a ton of people on the assembly line? I visited a factory in China that made plastic containers for fruits in supermarkets. They were able to reduce their labours by 2/3 through automation.
Sshhhh..this why most people soon won't have jobs here in the US... cause companys are reducing labour's yet charging more at the same time. This world is broken and a joke.
@@Sky_Blaze funny how we might become the part of the statistics in this video, 😔 man life is hard.
@@NFFFFFFFF life's a joke
But Americans want actual slaves making their products.
@@Sky_Blaze
It's called technology advancement
If your skills are outdated and not needed anymore then learn something else
"Your iPhone is a result of Mao's 1960s plan to survive nuclear war."
So does this mean criticizing communism on an iPhone is now the hypocritical thing?
Yes and no because China also benefitted from capitalism making things like the iPhone possible.
I love that this is Peter Zeihan’s presentation on China, but with better editing and music.
Seriously though great video!
Companies should buy less avocado toast and lattes to cut costs instead!
Delete the "equity departments" too 😎
And take shorter showers to save water.
Companies don't buy either
@@ceoatcrystalsoft4942 that’s the joke
What makes Chinese labour so enticing is not really the labour itself anymore, it is the unique factors china has; like the sheer amount of trained labour (eg more engineers graduate each year than the US has in total), industries made to support that labour (very good vertical and horizontal intigration), and at least until recently a fairly stable country (mexican labour is cheaper if you can keep them from being extorted by the cartels, corruption,etc).
& lack of employee protection laws that does ultimately contributes to the rising cost of wages etc when lives are cheap in China.
in China, for every labourer which perishes at work, another 100 are queuing up to take their places despite the lacking of proper laws to protect workers though a communist nation.
laws exists primarily for the interest of the party, not the people.
@@MrNajibrazakHow are working conditions in the capitalist USA, or south Korea?
What makes China unique is that you have a massive cheap labor pool and the 2nd largest economy with strong buying power all in one place.
@@CommunistBot workers in the US have far more safety regulations that protect them compared to China.
@@CommunistBot how does the us or korea have bad working laws?
China has automated quite a bit, making its labor expensive, but keeping products relatively cheap.
@DeadManWalking-ym1oo many companies have done that, but even then, building in China might be cheaper thanks to Govt policies, land, cost of setting up, and operating (and maintenance of machinery). Plus, they might often hold patents for the automation as well.
@DeadManWalking-ym1oo all true. But most businesses accept the risk of dealing with China (I know many individuals who do as well when they order on Alibaba from Europe or India). Regarding transport costs, apparently they are very low if the goods are being imported by a company on a large scale (often negligible compared to actual product price) thanks to logistics network today. Note that most decisions are made by businessmen not govt. To make organisations take actions, govt needs to give incentives.
Awesome video keep it up!
You had a good pt on vocstional sch stigma. In asia, it's either graduate degree or dropout. Unlike the west, vocational and trade sch are considered disgraceful, or sub standard. Hence the low pay and high disparity in education level
Totally agree - getting an apprenticeship can lead to a well paying job - or if not, a secure job.
If you're willing to move for the apprenticeship it could be six figures a year.
The work you do part time (which counts toward the apprenticeship) is paid, and the part time vocational school is also compensated in most countries.
I think the west also stigmatized trades. Anyone with good grades would get weird looks from family and friends if they decided to be a plumber rather than go to university.
Even if the plumber would probably get paid more haha
@@Nothing2150 in Asia it's weird because we all study so hard, day and night, that we are in a "too educated" situation - we literally have no trade skills, and can only do academics. Unless one enrolls in trade school, which the family will never sponsor lest they see you as a "failed graduate / dropout", there is no one to do trade except the "grew up in the streets" folks.
It is very dichotomous. Graduates do the managerial and academic-heavy technical jobs. The rest are highschool-ish level folks who learnt the trade by hand from some mentor.
So there's this weird gap that is supposed to be well skilled trade jobs that are too "tacit" for the booksmart graduates to learn, while too "technical" for the folks who learn the trade from scratch without formal training.
It's all or nothing. If you're studying, you better graduate or give up and start working. It really underestimates the value of trade work that many many folks miss out on, just because they couldn't Memorise their 成语 proverbs and a2+b2=c2s. Who knows how skillful they'd be in carpentry or machining but are left to tie bamboo scaffolding and lay brick after brick to nurture their oldass parents
It's a problem in some Western countries as well. US still expect college degree as default. UK too over-emphasise uni degree. You'd have to look towards the likes of Germany for examples where vocational training is on equal footing with college/uni degrees.
@@Nothing2150 In the past, but that’s really starting to change nowadays. I’m a university student and I hear people all the time talk about how viable of a career path trades are if you are smart about it.
As a Chinese person. I have to say your video is amazing.
Yet he thinks China Airlines is China's...Unless he thinks Taiwan is part of PRC...
@@noob.168 Taiwan ‘s official name is Republic of China. Red China is People republic of China. Taiwan is part of China but not PRC. The UA-camr probably thinks the China airlines is from PRC. It is actually from ROC.
@@naohdeng838 PRC is the China, ROC is forced to kept "China" in its name because PRC kept on threatening invading the island if they change their name to republic of Taiwan. as you a Chinese person you should know this already. As a Chinese person myself, I would recommend get away from China as soon as possible, the country as a whole maybe strong with 1.3 billion people, but if you are young and without a wealthy family or high ranking CCP connection, your future is fucked
I love how he makes weird parallels for the American audience like “Chinese Montana”. Or “documentaries Mall”
Great video thank you
That China Airlines clip is actually the Taiwanese carrier
Unless it was a subtle jab that the ROC is the true China, as China Airlines is their commercial flag carrier. This sequence was talking about travel between China and San Francisco. Even though everyone knows it between San Francisco and mainland China (or West Taiwan for other folks).
You need to know the official name of Taiwan is Republic of China. The world actually has two Chinas. ROC 🇹🇼and PRC🇨🇳.
@@graystoke8229 your comment may anger many Taiwanese people 😂
I think a lot of people don’t realise, why China?
The cost of Chinese labour increase also due to its productivity. There is cheap labour in Africa but companies are not flocking there cos they may lose everything.
Companies use China also because of the highly educated population too.
I get that the graphs are supposed to be simple, and I appreciate that very much. There is however an issue when you just... lack any labeling on the Y axis...
这个作者真的懂，说得面面俱到非常好
To be fair, Cheap labor isn't the only factor.
Infraestrucutre in China is massive, with huge ports, rail network, cargo areas, paved roads.
Electric energy is cheap in China, compared to US, India, or even Latin American countries. Industrial equipment consumes more energy than homes and street lighting.
Taxes, income tax for companies is low in China compared to Europe, India, especially compared with Latin America or Africa which usually are fiscal hells.
Brains, China does have the biggest pool of engineers, designers, professionals, etc... Than whole Latin America or Africa ... combined. They are also cheaper than European or American professionals.
If you don't you have to invest money researching and you count on stealing other nations' technologies, you have huge surpluses
Plus a lot of things are subsidizing in china
Don't forget the automation. China automation on port is astonishing. Barely dozen of people and can unload massive ship
One of the best channels on the site!
really? name every channel.
What China did is price there labor low to get technology transfer and to get the manufacturing base. Now they have it and don't need the West and can jack up there prices. They effectively played the long game. So all those workers in the US who lost there job to outsourcing who said this was going to happen were right.
"announced the shift to a consumption driven economy" a microcosm of the issues with command economy in one sentence
I am a Chinese college student studying in Macau (this is why I can log in to youtube). My impression of Made in China is that almost all the things with visible trademarks around me are made in China, and the really high-end European, American, Japanese, Korean Taiwan products The product label cannot be seen, because China is responsible for the assembly and integration solution provider, but China is overcoming this phenomenon and manufacturing real high-end products by itself.
About housing prices: Regarding China's housing prices, my understanding is: China is a land-oriented economic development model, buying a house = buying national bonds = the country's future prospects. When the country's prospects are all the way up, the house will become more and more valuable, and the repayment of the loan will become less and less, but this will only make the college students/graduate students who graduate later and work more and more painful.
Regarding education: It is worth mentioning that the college entrance examination is extremely unfair. China can be roughly understood as having three types of universities: A CLASS, B CLASS, and C LASS. In 2022, high school students in Beijing have a 46% chance of being admitted to A CLASS universities, while high school students in my hometown of Jiangxi Province have a 41% chance of being admitted to A, B, and C universities in 2022. Beijingers get into better universities just because they are Beijingers and their test papers are easier.
Supplement: Part of the content is contrary to the content in the video. More and more students can't accept to engage in physical work after studying in college, so more and more people hope to continue to graduate school, to avoid entering the workplace or hope to get a better job, so China's Postgraduate examinations are also gradually creating new records for the number of students. And the graduates/postgraduates contributed a lot to the unemployment rate after the lockdown. On the one hand, the society scoffs at those who graduated from technical secondary schools/college/vocational high schools, and the wages of those engaged in manual work are not optimistic, and they are very tiring.
About childbirth: I asked several female friends around me, including girlfriends, that they all resisted childbirth. The reasons include the great pain it brings, the huge damage to the appearance after childbirth, and the hard work of raising children. and time for yourself.
You can use vpn in China to access, YT, FB, Google, etc. When I travelled to China, I have 2 options. The first is to use vpn with a Chinese sim card. The second is to enable roaming since my telco is based in Singapore. I have also used a sim card from a Hong Kong based telco. I just enabled roaming when I am in China.
@@nsng1298 It is very expensive to use a Hong Kong calling card to open roaming costs. I use a Chinese VPN, 2usd can buy 130g of VPN traffic. I used 40g for forty days.
我用的 75一年 速度挺好的
@@kendrick5994 你这个更是重量级，不过我一年有八个月时间在澳门，不需要一整年的，12块130g的vpn简直爽歪歪
那兄弟你还打算回中国大陆发展吗说实话？😂
11:52 "If China had a state religion, it would be education" nice
So Wise , Thank You
Best channel on the platform.
He don’t miss
Anyone have a timestamp for when he explains what happens when the "worker bees" begin to age, become diabled and retire? Any jobs for "aging population?"
10:10 ironically those "China Airlines" planes are probably going to Taiwan; the PRC's airline is actually called Air China.
was looking for a comment pointing this out lol
Yeah, that’s because Taiwan’s official name is Republic of China.
@@TechieWidget Still not the "People"'s Republic of China
Biggest mistake of this video.😅
Dude, *WHERE* is the bonus episode you said is on Nebula? I’ve checked the Nebula Polymatter’s page (where you posted _this_ video), and I’ve checked your “China Actually” series-specific page too.
I don’t see it anywhere.
The end of cheap Chinese labor doesn't mean that China won't continue to be the world's manufacturer. China still has the world's most efficient supply chains and advanced logistics systems, in large part thanks to the CPC's investment in infrastructure. China also has the world's largest skilled labor workforce, even if they are more expensive. But not only that, China also leads the world in automation, robotics, and AI, which means their manufacturing quality and efficiency will only continue to increase.
My consulting firm is very busy dealing with large Chinese manufacturers seeking to offshore their factories to the GCC. It's not just labour costs, it's removal of state subsidies, new tarrifs and proximity to market!
What’s the GCC, mate?
@@dumdumbrown4225 Gulf Cooperation Council countries: KSA, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE.
So sad that we won't be able to exploit workers abroad by making them overwork their souls off for less than 1 dollar per day and giving them inhumane working conditions which is banned in our own country😭😭
And child labour is ending too? What cruel world we live in 😭😭
Don't worry companies are moving to Vietnam Bangladesh and other countries
If you bring back labour locally, you will literally get inflation - not the "printing money" inflation, but the "everybody gets paid" inflation.
And while workers get paid, the inflation is aggregate and thus the paychecks won't work.
@@shapshooter7769
People will complain about foreign workers until they realize that they have to buy iPhone for 10000$ and their salaries won't change
Fantastic content 👌🏻 👏 👍🏻
The competitive key factor for China several years ago was labor cost. It isn't anymore.
Their current main competitive factor is their supply chain. Almost any other supply chain for industrial goods without China inclusion is more inefficient and more expensive.
Big problem with Nebula, if you don't know who has content on it, you will never find them, it doesn't give you a menu of content or creators
I'm having trouble identifying when the Lewis Turning Point occurred in the US, because all the search results are about the China topic, or are about other Lewises. Can anyone direct me to a source that has this info? Thanks!
Isn't it odd that workers' wages are increasing at faster pace in an authoritarian country with state-backed capitalism vs some pure capitalist democracies where the unseen hand of the market is supposed to balance all needs?
Best interesting content on YT
polymatter going back to his roots with chinese videos
a big hater, he cant do better
If only he wasn't so bias against China, these vids would actually be decent.
@@AznVinc3nt I haven't seen much of his content, can you give some examples?
@@user-ie7vo1hj3j almost every chinese related video is talking about negative or make it seems worse than it is. Almost outright lying at some point
@@BigBoss-ps6vk He's far more neutral than other China channels like Serpentza, China Insights, China Update or the mother of them all, China Uncensored. He's about as unbiased as you're likely to get from a westerner on China.
Economically speaking, kids are very useless - PolyMatter 2023
Just useless in general
@@Karlach_ I take it you don't like kids or have any?
@@daivdsmith3746 I don't keep things with no use around
Equating education to skills, although common, is still a bad practice. There is no such thing as high skill and low skill labor, just labor that requires calculus and labor that doesn't.
I disagree. Education can be in more than calculus.
It's the difference between moving dirt by hand/shovel and moving dirt with a excavator. One can be done by literally anyone without training. The other cannot.
Formal education and having the skills to complete a task are not the same but the term "skill labor" literally refers to someone who works in a field that requires a degree or specialized training usually through a vocational school i.e. pilots, electricians, and nurses are all considered skilled laborers.
This was already happening almost a decade ago when there was a book called end of cheap China published in 2014. Obviously cost is NOT the only factor. Time to get things done needs to be considered.
What s the point of investing in a cheap country if it takes twice or three times to set up factories from burdensome regulations, corruptions, and lack of skilled labour.
I subscribe to Nebula but find it is sometimes hard to find videos that I see on UA-cam
sucker
So many of the world's economic problems right now are related to investors foolishly believing that things just go on forever. Growth, demand, population growth, peace - all of those things were expected to just get better and better without stopping, and entire countries built themselves on those assumptions. I can't see how anyone who would consider themselves an authority in any field could be so foolishly optimistic.
Guess people’s greed and lack of education is the problem - but hey, this is what drives the economy indefinitely, why stop the money train? Just make sure you’re the smart train driver ;)
Tesla's efficient production in China benefits from the fact that local Chinese manufacturers can provide more than 90% of the accessories, including glass, motors, air conditioners, batteries, etc., and even the exaggerated Giga Press, yes, the manufacturer is a Shenzhen company , which also holds the Italian IDRA company。
This was GREAT
the end of this video sounds a lot like the problems we're having in the us too, stigma around vocation, extremely high cost of living and having children
Love all your China videos man, keep with it
PolyMatter has never been to China or a Sinologist so he doesn't have a complete understanding of why and how China does things and some of the issues presented in the video are viewed under western lenses which are flawed instead of applying Chinese ideology.
@RC Stat genuinely asking btw, dont wanna sound rude but im just curious. Such as what issues?
@@soar3135 topping the question.
Most of his China's videos aren't that good. It is filled with the usual ''Chinawatcher'' tropes about why and how China can't do that because it isn't a liberal democracy. It is preaching to the choir. It is the usual no sense that the evil Chinese is always in a state of collapse.
@@soar3135 Maybe constantly talking about some sort of demographic collapse when countries like japan, korea, italy have worse birth rates. I have never heard anyone make the bogus arguement that south korea will collapse in half a decade despite their birth rate being 0.7, almost half of china
The author speaks very evenly and clearly，thanks.
China already have the infrastructure in place, that’s why they are still a superhub for manufacturing. Mexico or other asian countries might have cheaper labour, but to setup the infrastructure and trust that it will produce, is a big if and also very costly. It took China decades to built what they have, it won’t be replaced as easily just because people is “cheaper” elsewhere.
"Only major Latin American economy more expensive is Chile" My Uruguayan heart hurts.
Never mind. Uruguay seems to be on a good path for the future. Part of the reason Chinese labor is so expensive is because of the real estate bubble.
Igual solo serían a lo más 4 países en Latinoamérica : Chile, Uruguay, Panamá y Costa Rica ? .. En conclusión: Uruguay cada vez más cerca a los países europeos que latam : / ( saludos de 🇵🇪)
These are basically peter zeihan's talking points.
Countries that escaped the middle income trap: Equatorial Guinea, Greece, Puerto Rico. Really?
I have a consulting biz in the GCC. We have loads of Chinese manufacturers seeking to relocate manufacturing here. It's not just labour cost - subsidies are being withdrawn and of course most Chinese companies export about 80% of their production. Add the decoupling of the US, Europe and China, tariffs etc and they no longer are profitable. I am happy, and very busy!
nice video as always!
But the video was released just 4 minutes ago
At least it shows the Chinese government isn't lying about poverty alleviation
12:30 seems like that happened with CS students in the US. A select group of skilled coders with the rest left behind.
are you referring to the recent layoffs or what? the US is amazing for tech compared to here in Asia because I see vids of how any random person can just get into tech by self-learning or whatever but here nobody will hire you without a university degree
@@nerd2544 No, they're just videos for the views. If you actually look at entry level job openings, there are *very* few compared to a few years ago, and even then it was very few compared to how colleges made it sound.
14:49 not gonna lie didn't expect equatorial guinea on that list
Not sure why it always gets me... but chili is a food and chee-lay is a place!
Yes, there it comes the no lighting production shops！
Those days when labour cost is cheap, I asked why factories go after automation so seriously, now we appreciate their forward visions！
S tier channel,
Well done
70% of china's population not having even a high school education is the biggest shock for me.
85 percent of India's population doesn't have a high school education too
dhotis😂
Alot of people dont!! Life is a reality and alot of people can't stay in school..and on top of it it doesn't help that most schools teach meaningless BS. And once you get to college and stuff God only knows how much money it takes just to be able to be there which guarantees, nothing. The elite are holding a carrot in your face that you're never going to get.
Free public education in China is 9yrs. Many living in the rural or agriculture areas enter the workforce soon after graduation.
@@MyMovie5858 Are college fees too expensive there? I mean how long can China sustain itself without it's population having a high degree if it want to be a tech giant
“Children also known as free farm labor”😂😂😂
Many countries went thru this process.
I don't think it's a massive problem. It's a problem for CEOs of big brands and their bonuses. We pay pretty much the same for tires made in China or Made in France of the same brand, the difference is that this brand earns less when its made in France.
“You may be wondering, why Nebula? The answer is simple.”
*thumbnail on-screen reads “MONEY”*
Yup, sounds right
Only so much can be done in space and time in a country with many different cultures - not an homogenious population. Lifting education standards for example. MY GREAT GRANDFATHER spoke about China's inevitable rise in Australia of the 1870s. So, thinking is not always received. You crammed a great spread of data into this video report, so much food for thought. Thank you for your efforts!
Australia might as well be china 2.0