YI XIANRONG

Urbanization is a key factor in resolving challenges in Chinas labor market

Recently, suicide-plaguedFoxconn, the worlds largestelectronics manufacturer, andstrike-bothered Honda in GuangdongProvince have been trying toresolve their problems by increasingworkers wages. More than 10provinces, autonomous regions,municipalities in south China, suchas Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdongand Shanghai, also have raised theirminimum wage standards by atleast 10 percent. That implies thatmore regions are planning to followsuit. Such widespread wage hikes,some people think, may have animpact on the flow of foreign investmentinto China and its status asthe factory of the world, and signifythat the transfer of labor-intensiveindustries to inland areas and theend of the low-wage era.