China Gains U.S. Apparel Market Share

I think economics is not that simple, if one gain other doesn't looses. If we take it at macro level,

Yes individual may looses his job.

Just think china does most of its biz with USA, and in last 10years china doubled its GPD from 4 to 8 Tr. USD. But USA doesn't loose any thing. its GDP is also increasing. May be not at that pace,

American should be happy that there cheep work is done by someone else and their brain is free for high value innovations.

Epecially when China controls it's currency to keep the wage rates down. This can only go on so long as China will accumulate all the US $$ abd be able to buy everything in sight. It is happening now.

Normally with free exchange rates the currencies would tend to equalize the wage rate differences over time. The Chinese workers would get better paid and the jobs would come back. China prevents this and when US union men go to China to try and convince the workers to unionize by telling them they can get USA wages, the Chinese government boots them out. The governemnt knows the union men only want to kill Chinese jobs. This worked well in Korea where they ruined the employment prospects of many workers by making them strike for US wages...the fools did not seem to see that if that happened then USA cars would not be cheaper any more, with the freight etc.

Of course the problem is not nearly as bad in the US as in other parts of the world. See http://allafrica.com/stories/200611291019.html for the situation in Ghana. Many third-world (developing) countries have no alternatives to textiles when it comes to industrializing, so what happens to them when Chinese manufactuers undersell them?

another problem for these small countries is donated clothes from us. Most clothing donation boxes are scams to get clothes that are exported to Africa and sold cheaply there.

FYI - If you find this subject to be of interest, you might like to take a look at this piece, too.

I'm in NC where the textile industry has taken a big hit. But don't sympatihise with them they sent overseas their newest equipment, invested heavily. Business Week had an article several months ago how the shirt businesses were moving out of Thailand to lower cost China. Dress shirts were $12/dozen in thailand will be $10/dozen in China. What do you pay in the local stores??

I recently visited Thailand, India, Philippines and China They are educating engineers at a rapid rate and they are working thruout asia at $15,000 per year or less. The biggest troulbe in China is the character of the management people, it is do anything to make money. As my friend in Shanghai says why should they worry about losing face they have several of them, he has 12 years experience.

The textile people and the retailers like the situation just fine, they make big returns, it is the lack of jobs for the unskilled layed of workers that is a big problem. But what good will more education do when there are no jobs period.