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[–]wuzizname 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's more than just minimum wage. If every country around the world, tomorrow, mandated US minimum wage as their minimum wage I'd bet companies would still want to manufacture overseas. It's more than just wages when you factor in things like:

  • Corp tax, land tax

  • Vacation pay, termination pay, overtime pay, maternal / paternal leave pay, benefits

  • Union fees

  • Environmental regulation (biggie here, companies can't dump their byproduct into rivers in the USA like you can in China)

  • Employment regulations (OSHA requirements, safety training, workplace injury pay)

  • Infrastructure costs (factory maintenance, IT needs, etc).

Add all those above up, and companies will find it more preferable to outsource work to countries that expect near slave-labour conditions as the norm. Cheaper to pay someone in India who will work a 14 hour day with no breaks, work Saturdays and not get any compensation if they're injured on the job.