Editor: Crass Cash
The Dark Continent is officially the lowest labor producer. I say this tongue and cheek, and we all saw it coming, but I saw it for the first time today. We got in a box of shirts that had the company logo on them. I immediately checked the "made in..." tag to see. For the first time I saw that it was made in Madagascar!
For the past 20 years you almost always would have seen this for textiles for some country in SE Asia. Well, as it happens with all countries, the countries are becoming richer. Wages are increasing and they are becoming richer. As a result the cost of production goes us. Textiles always seem to find the lowest cost labor, for obvious reasons. They first moved from the NE USA, then to the SE USA, then to South America, then to SE Asia, and it's now progressively moving to Africa. Where will it go after Africa? Have you ever seen the movie Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines? Eventually it will be done by machines when the labor becomes too expensive. This will probably take decades though as Africa continues to crawl out of the depths of poverty. Labor unions, higher wages, worker safety, and basic benefits also tend to follow the textile industry.
Might be a good time to start investing there...
For the past 20 years you almost always would have seen this for textiles for some country in SE Asia. Well, as it happens with all countries, the countries are becoming richer. Wages are increasing and they are becoming richer. As a result the cost of production goes us. Textiles always seem to find the lowest cost labor, for obvious reasons. They first moved from the NE USA, then to the SE USA, then to South America, then to SE Asia, and it's now progressively moving to Africa. Where will it go after Africa? Have you ever seen the movie Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines? Eventually it will be done by machines when the labor becomes too expensive. This will probably take decades though as Africa continues to crawl out of the depths of poverty. Labor unions, higher wages, worker safety, and basic benefits also tend to follow the textile industry.
Might be a good time to start investing there...
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