
Labor in the U.S. now cheaper than labor in Brazil - prakash
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2008/05/14/labor-in-the-us-now-cheaper-than-labor-in-brazil/
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daniel-cussen
The dollar has fallen a lot recently. That's a legitimate macroeconomic reason
for this kind of shift.

But there are a few confounding factors, too. First, from an employer's
perspective, it is hard to deal with Brazilian employees from a legal
standpoint (firing, hiring, etc). Second, the difference in costs between
skilled Brazilian workers and skilled Floridans might be smaller than the
difference between unskilled Brazilians and unskilled Floridans. Third, since
Embraer produces for the Brazilian government, this might be an arrangement
between the US government and the Brazilian government to improve the trade
balance between the two countries (Brazil makes cheap steel, and only a few US
producers, like Nucor, can compete with it).

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josefresco
Blog posting doesn't add much to the original story which is here:
[http://www.aero-
news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=fb1b93e6-3...](http://www.aero-
news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=fb1b93e6-313f-452c-902e-5d5104df7bd3&);

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ojbyrne
I looked up Brazil's per capita income and it's just under $5k a year. The
jobs mentioned pay $50k a year. I posted that in a comment at the blog, it has
not exited moderation yet :-(

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mechanical_fish
One should not copy Greenspun's headlines casually from venue to venue.
Greenspun has a particular style, one which thrives on irony, drama, and the
occasional dollop of literary exaggeration. :)

In fact, the linked article does _not_ argue that Brazilian labor is more
expensive than that in the U.S. All we can conclude is that, taking all
factors into consideration, cheaper foreign labor isn't driving Embraer to
avoid the USA. Given that aviation is a heavily regulated, litigated, and
taxed field, that doesn't tell us much -- maybe building jets in the USA for
US customers saves a bunch of tariffs, or takes advantage of a tax loophole,
or saves delivery costs or supply costs.

 _I looked up Brazil's per capita income and it's just under $5k a year. The
jobs mentioned pay $50k a year._

Well, to be fair, "aviation assembly worker" might be a relatively high-paying
job in Brazil. The cost of "workers" and the cost of "skilled workers suitable
for careers in your aircraft factory" are two different things. But, again,
the article gives us no clues whatsoever.

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ojbyrne
I would argue that this is trolling/linkbait and not much more. And that's
isn't coming out of ignorance of Philip's writings, I've read most (all) of
his stuff and once bought extra copies of Philip and Alex's Guide to give away
as gifts.

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quellhorst
Anyone try hiring offshore dev or designers lately? Some of these guys want
more than I would have to pay someone locally from craigslist. Are Americans
the new Indians?

~~~
mechanical_fish
The Indian outsourcing trend was operating at unsustainable rates, fueled by
the overvalued dollar:

[http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dean_baker/2007/11/down_...](http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dean_baker/2007/11/down_with_the_dollar.html)

Unfortunately, while the dollar is finally falling in a way that will help
reinvigorate the US industries that the strong dollar helped to injure or kill
over the last decade, the sharp fall in the dollar's value is also a big pain
-- higher inflation, higher interest rates, and all at a time when the _real_
cost of oil is shooting up.

I'm certainly not surprised to see developers in foreign countries demanding
comparable salaries to developers in the USA. Are they supposed to be
_altruists_ , cheerfully working for less than their market value just because
their local cost-of-living is so much lower? ;)

