RE: Chinese salaries
Mike,
I yield to you in your knowledge of the seasonality of Chinese pastries, I could have chosen a better image, say, "Selling like
smuggled stolen Mercedes in Guangdong!"
As to Chinese salaries, you must recognize that the market is, as Andy would say, bifurcated into State and Foreign-invested sectors. The
State enterprise provides the iron rice bowl: no-cut contracts, housing, pensions, medical care, education, and a small cash income as you say --$30-$35/mo (in RMB equivalents, of course). On a PPP basis, it is $300-$500/mo. For professionals, the Foreign sector rarely provides housing and can't pay for it. You live with your family who, hopefully, get their house from the work unit. When you hit it big, you buy one of the new condos($50,000-$75,000), and pay for it with the money you save by buying a Passat instead of a Mercedes. (iow, it is a mystery ...).
The FI sector salaries are growing rapidly, and Hong Kong will infect the mainland rapidly with salary inflation. The workers, as usual, will be screwed -- meet the new boss, same as the old boss (apologies to The Who!)
The computer is one of the "Five News" that every up-to-date couple must have: a car, a condo, a home entertainment center, a video camera, and a computer." It is, as you say, a must for the little emperor. |
