of California, Maine and New Mexico, employing women
as the chief source of labour.
10.
Attachment No.II to this Memorandum sets out
the detailed comparison of the fixed costs involved in
operating in Hong Kong on a two shift basis and opera-
ting in Singapore on a three shift basis. Even though
the actual cost of land, water and power is lower in
Singapore, the cost of these items has been treated as
being equal for the purposes of the comparison so that
the direct consequence of two shift as against three
shift work can be seen without regard to other factors.
It will be seen from the figures that if the whole of
the Company's manufacturing facility were moved to Singa-
pore and operated on a three shift basis, there would be
a saving in fixed costs of approximately US$800,000.00
per annum and that even the move of the integrated circuit
production line only would achieve a saving of approximately
US$224,000.00 per annum. When it is borne in mind that
Singapore offers a complete tax holiday for new manufac-
turing businesses for five years and has lower land, water
and power costs, it will readily be seen that Hong Kong
cannot remain economically competitive in the manufacture
of this type of product unless three shift working can be
The comparison with South Korea is similar.
introduced.
11.
According to the Commerce & Industry Department
official figures for the last quarter of 1968, the item
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