4 ms·

This does not tell us what the wages were compared to Americans at that time. It is very easy to have a 10 fold increase in wages if people are making $2 a day

• 0xDEADFED5 3y ago
  it's a pretty interesting paper, it probably answers your questions. paragraph preceding my last quote: In the US between 1956 and 1976, while the dollar depreciated by 17.8%, the real domestic cost of producing steel grew by 37%. Although steel had historically been a materials-intensive sector, by 1956 in the US, labor and materials each accounted for about the same share of unit input costs. Each also grew in real terms by roughly the same rate from 1956 to 1976: unit labor costs by 35% and unit material costs by 38%. Each therefore made like contributions to a loss in US comparative advantage in steelmaking. The main reason for the rise in unit material costs was a 48% increase of the real price of iron ore and (with our 1976 end date falling in the aftermath of the 1973 oil price shock) a near dou- bling of the real price of coke.