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The apparent paradox is easily explained by the fact that China and the west are not starting from the same place, the average US worker is far wealthier since
by mattnewton 3y ago
The apparent paradox is easily explained by the fact that China and the west are not starting from the same place, the average US worker is far wealthier since they have already gone through widespread industrialization. Manufacturing will show massive % gains on a smaller economy, but the kinds of labor that lifts you from a poor argriculturally eventually top out.
That’s what this “made in China” initiative is tracking - moving up the value chain in China.
- wk_end 3y agoHad the US not already gone through widespread industrialization by the 1950s, the supposed golden age of American industry and prosperity?
- yorwba 3y agoAbout 10% were still working in agriculture: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-agriculture-in-total-employment?time=1900..latest&country=USA~CHN https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-agriculture-in-t...
- mattnewton 3y agoAlso, the post ww2 US period is unique in that the rest of the world either didn’t have skilled manufacturing at all or not at the scale the Americans had immediately after the war. Everyone else was bombed or not fully developed yet - it’s hard to draw universal lessons from the American experience, but it makes sense to look at the other nations that progressed after that. Like Japan for example, which was industrialized but industrialized further up the value chain after WW2