[Cor]

Foxconn have raised their wages significantly over the last decade and a half; This is hardly unexpected.

This is how Foxconn's wages have looked since 2004 --

2004: 380 RMB

2006: 400 RMB

2007: 600 RMB

2008: 700 RMB

2009-July 2010: 900 RMB

July 2010: 1200 RMB

Oct 2010: 2000 RMB after 6 month probationary period at 1200 RMB

April 2011: 2390 RMB after 6 month probation period at 1590 RMB

2012: 2590 after 6 month probation period at 2190 RMB

[learc83]

Wow, it looks like wages have nearly tripled in the last 3 years and looking at the numbers, inflation only accounts for a small fraction.

I've been expecting cheap manufacturing to move away from China eventually, but it seems it may happen faster than I thought.

[Cor]

Heh, yup. It's funny how the media neglects to mention how quickly wages have risen over the past few years WITHOUT any pressure being put on the companies by the media. These pay rises were scheduled a long time ago - they were only just put into action because of Chinese New Year a few weeks back.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens once the Chinese workers have to go back to their farms. The average Chinese farm earns about 300-500RMB per month (http://seeingredinchina.com/2011/04/27/how-poor-are-chinese-...); will the NYTimes write about that, too?