Reply #10: German manufacturing workers make at least 50% more than US manufacturing workers. [View All]

[pampango]

From the Democracy Now link:

JUAN GONZALEZ: Scott, when you mention the fact of a German company being heavily involved in some of the materials, we often hear the argument in this country that these kinds of industrialized union jobs are too expensive to be done here in the United States. Yet Germany, the German work force is highly unionized, very well paid, and still manages to be able to compete in terms of industrial jobs and industrial production. Why is that?

SCOTT PAUL: Yeah, it’s a good question. It’s the right question to ask, Juan. "And it is a fact that German manufacturing workers are paid an average of $48 an hour. In the United States, the average for manufacturing workers is $32 an hour. Germany has a national healthcare system. As you know, we do not. Germany has thick regulation, a much more progressive tax system than the United States does, yet Germany thrives in manufacturing. Germany has held its share of manufacturing throughout the last decade, while China has risen, and the U.S. has dramatically declined, in fact by one-third just over the last decade.

Why couldn't an American company bid competitively on the steel contract with the German company paying 50% more for its labor and having to ship its finished product across the Atlantic Ocean?