labor - China's emerging labor shortage

The Times Online targets - as one of remarkably few western media - one of China's more interesting features: the emerging shortage of labor.

The workers who churn out bras for the British high street and toys to go under the Christmas tree are no longer happy to work in factories where security guards keep them behind locked gates or where taking a lavatory break of more than a minute could mean a fine.

There are only nine workers available for every ten jobs in Shenzhen and the article focuses on strategies to get more workers to this booming border town of 12 million. I'm not sure about all their claims: they say that wages went up annually around 15 percent, but that must be a very recent feature. In the past decade with hardly any inflation, there were very little movements in terms of wages. If that has changed - and I see no solid indication of that - that would be news. Evidence or sources are unfortunately lacking.