July 06, 2010
The NYT warned readers that rising labor costs in China pose a serious threat to many companies that manufacture products there:
“makers of personal computers, cellphones and other electronics — including Dell, Hewlett-Packard and LG — deal with much slimmer profit margins [than Apple] according to several analysts. ‘The challenges are going to be much bigger for them,’ Ms. Lai said. Most other industries, from textiles and toys to furniture, are under considerably more pressure.”
Actually, since China is the low-cost producer, it is not clear that rising wages there will pose a serious threat to even low margin firms. If costs for competitors rise also, due to the higher wages, then all the firms in the industry will be able to raise their prices to cover their costs leaving their margins little affected.
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