Chinese factory workers receive a smaller share of what they produce than workers in nearly every other country on earth. United Nations Industrial Development Organization data from 2016 showed that Chinese manufacturing workers received just four percent of total manufacturing output in wages - placing China 86th out of 87 countries surveyed, ahead of only Indonesia.
The comparison with poorer nations is particularly striking, "Hvylya" notes, citing an analysis by Yasheng Huang in Foreign Affairs. India, with a significantly lower per capita income, recorded a wage share of five percent. The United States - "a country not known for its strong pro-labor stance," as Huang put it - paid out 12 percent.
The squeeze has only deepened. Chinese export manufacturing took off in the early 1990s with wages at 6.3 percent of output; three decades later that figure has been nearly halved to 3.3 percent. The broader real economy tells the same story: labor's share of all inputs dropped six percentage points between 1987 and 2023.
The consequences of this wage suppression extend beyond China's borders. In 2025, Brazilian authorities sued a BYD subsidiary for labor conditions they described as "analogous to slavery" - a case that drew global attention to the treatment of Chinese workers abroad.
Huang argued that China's low wages are not a side effect of its manufacturing success but a root cause. By underpaying workers, firms and the state amass capital surpluses that fund further industrial expansion - a cycle that has made China the world's dominant manufacturer while leaving its workforce with a shrinking share of the wealth they create.
Previously: Power Shifts Back to Physical Resources as Oil, Minerals and Chips Eclipse Software.