GUA / 12/30
22
6 February
x70
Thank you for your letter of 29 January enclosing the cutting from the uardian which, in fact, I had not seen previously. I a surs Alse Hermann spotted it in the ashington Post and he and/or David Ballers will know from past precedents whet, is anything, to do.
The whole thing of course is tendentious economie nonsense and an example of pressure group special pleading. There is no need to repeat the arguments of the economics textbooks on the thecry of comparative advantage but, purely ns a question of feet, the 2/34. an bour seems to have been pulled out of a hat. My Hong Kong Labour Department Statistics for the garment industry show that o.g. sewing zachine operators on piecework get about 3/6d. an hour on average and can get as much as 5/64. an hour. On top of this there is an attendance bonus of one to three days' pay per month and a Chinese New Year bonus of up to 1 months' pay. 1 should also add that wages have been going up by an average of about 10 year in Hong Kong for the past decade and that, with the present labour shortage, the rise is continuing. Needless to say, the cost of living for the average worker is very much lower than for his counterpart in the United @tates.
a
*
3.
I wonder if the American garment unions are going to picket stores selling Taiwan and Korean clothing, where wages are about a half and a third respectively of liong Kong levels.
0.1. Semmia, sq.,
Board of Trade.
ce:
fr. #.. Carter, CO
(D.J.C. Jones) Counsellor (Hong Kong Affairs)
Mr. 0.4. Bellers, Hong Kong Gov. Londen Office
Nr. 3. Stewart, Wintech.
Br. W. Hughes, Sec.
r. D.1. Turnett, CRE 1
ar. . Kicoll, CRE 4
} з вот
dr. A.li.8. Hermann, Hong Kong Office, dashington. + cc. Kemmes'
letter
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