cheap labour

Thailand's is not the only Asian economy hooked on cheap labour. Neighbouring Malaysia also depends on millions of guest-workers.

Farmers, who have political clout and a perpetual hunger for cheap labour, may be allowed to hire more seasonal workers.

With its seemingly limitless supply of cheap labour and the rapid acquisition of technological prowess, China appears to be unstoppable.

Cambodia also, however, has abundant, cheap labour and benefits from preferential tariffs extended to it as a "least developed country" .

China is no longer just a source of cheap labour, says Ms Xu.

For American firms setting up in China, the chief attraction these days is not its cheap labour but its increasingly affluent consumers.

The international telecommunications manufacturing industry is attracted by relatively high quality and yet cheap labour in China.

Herzog knows that the Bird's Nest was built with cheap labour and that residents were displaced to make way for it.

China still has plenty of cheap labour in northern and inland cities, far from the overheated coastal boomtowns.

"We can no longer rely on cheap labour as a basis for our manufacturing, " he said.

But Britain had coal, which replaced firewood as a fuel, and colonies with slaves providing plenty of farmland and cheap labour.

Japan has not just moved factories to cheap labour, it has also brought cheap labour to the factories.

But the much-feared "China price" has always been about much more than cheap labour.

GE did open a new plant in Vietnam to make wind turbines, but Mr Rice insists that talent was the lure, not cheap labour.

Again, unlike China, this manufacturing boom cannot be explained by cheap labour, but by the efficient use of technology.

Others blame it for an unwelcome inflow of cheap labour and an outflow of jobs.

The system has been much eroded since the Mao era because of the need for cheap labour to fuel China's manufacturing boom.

AMERICANS worried that cheap labour in faraway countries threatens jobs at home should redirect their gaze to the mirror.

China has an open, large and fast-growing economy. But it is also a middle-income country with a huge supply of cheap labour.

He is critical too of the urbanisation of China, seeing it as deliberate policy to ensure a supply of cheap labour for the "WMP" .

In practice, they provide cheap labour (mainly from Asia) for the garment industry, farming and fish-processing.

This will bring an abrupt end to its cheap-labour manufacturing.

But few countries that eye the model have China's vast, cheap labour supply and attractive internal market for foreign investment.

Portugal suffered a shock when ex-communist countries joined the EU and lured multinational firms that liked cheap labour.

In countries with liberal gun laws and cheap labour, wealthy homeowners will often employ a full complement of armed guards.

In doing so, we knew for sure that Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta region had a lot more to offer than just cheap labour.

So is the cheap labour, cheap goods model that's performed such wonders for China's economy coming under increasing strain?

Emerging countries in general continue to rely on cheap labour rather than innovation to drive their growth.

India ought to sell more of them. The country has abundant raw materials, cheap labour and centuries of know-how.

Thanks to cheap labour costs, China exported deflation to the rest of the world.

More structurally, it looks like China's seemingly endless supply of young, cheap labour is coming to an end.

To this is added Spain's own particular crisis, as a model based on cheap labour and a dizzy property market hits the skids.

But there will still be cheap labour to be found inland and in places like India.

In eastern Europe, businesses built on (relatively) cheap labour fear China mightily.

Cheap labour on the doorstep has also helped to hold down costs at home.

"For us, China is not about outsourcing and cheap labour, " he told the Financial Times.

China's export model, then, still consists in big measure of renting out cheap labour and land to foreigners.

In this sense, the government should act as the operation in cheap labour "night watchman " role rather than "nanny" role.

Many Chinese businesses have been built on using cheap labour to produce cheap, commoditised goods such as clothes and shoes for export.

Cheap labour force replaced the operation of machinery in industry.

But manufacturers are not simply shifting inland in search of cheap labour.

They sell to the very universities that provide that cheap labour.

The [government's] goal is to encourage enterprises to upgrade [and reduce their] over-reliance on cheap labour.

He scoffs at the suggestion that the era of cheap labour is over.

Despite its cheap labour, China's solar battery costs are 30 per cent higher than its German and US counterparts.

The country has abundant raw materials, cheap labour and centuries of know-how.

Their cheap labour has cut the cost of goods.

Is Japan running large current account surpluses because of its cheap labour?

In any case, it is not true that China's growth has been based primarily on cheap labour.

Makers of footwear, furniture and more also gain from supplies of cheap labour.

What they really wanted was technology transfer and they got it big time (through offering cheap labour).

The problem is that investors typically seek more than just cheap labour and access to natural resources.

Its seemingly limitless supply of cheap labour was a magnet for foreign investment and technology.

CHINA'S economic success has been built on cheap labour.

"I didn't need cheap labour. I needed labour, " he explains.

The industry employs around 1. 7m people. Makers of footwear, furniture and more also gain from supplies of cheap labour.

The premium is smaller in India and Pakistan, two other big growers with lots of cheap labour, and greater in America.

The country has a surfeit of cheap labour.

Second, there are long-term worries about the supply of cheap labour.

its surplus labour and the period of cheap labour has ended.

The use of cheap labour helped to keep costs down.

The emerging world, long a source of cheap labour, now rivals the rich countries for business innovation, says Adrian Wooldridge

Cheap labour will not yield gains for ever. But what comes next is unclear