Furniture Today

China faces labor shortage, rising wages
Editor's note: Beginning with this story, Furniture|Today will provide readers with reports from Maria Trombly, a veteran business journalist based in Shanghai, China. A graduate of Cornell University, she has over a decade of experience writing about business and technology. Trombly's work has taken her to Chechnya, Armenia, Afghanistan and elsewhere around the globe. For the past two years, she has been based in Shanghai. Trombly also is president of the Shanghai Entrepreneur Group.
A plentiful supply of cheap labor, mostly rural migrant workers, has been one key force driving China's rapid economic growth in the past two decades. A comparative advantage in labor costs has turned the nation into a global manufacturing center and furniture-making powerhouse.
Furniture Today Feature (August 2006) Free registration required