How Germany Builds Twice as Many Cars as the U.S. While Paying Its
Workers Twice as Much
In 2010, Germany produced more than 5.5 million automobiles; the
U.S produced 2.7 million. At the same time, the average auto
worker in Germany made $67.14 per hour in salary in benefits; the
average one in the U.S. made $33.77 per hour. Yet Germany?s big
three car companies?BMW, Daimler (Mercedes-Benz), and
Volkswagen?are very profitable.
How can that be? The question is explored in a new article from
Remapping Debate, a public policy e-journal. Its author, Kevin
C. Brown, writes that "the salient difference is that, in Germany,
the automakers operate within an environment that precludes a race
to the bottom; in the U.S., they operate within an environment
that encourages such a race."
http://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2011/12/21/germany-builds-twice-as-many-cars-as-the-u-s-while-paying-its-auto-workers-twice-as-much/
IIRC, when I got my first after-uni job, auto workers were making
about US$10 an hour. Since then, cumulative inflation has been about
6-fold so they should be making around US$60/hr now. But they're
making half that or less -- $15 to $33.
Huh.
Stumbled across this on the rec.crafts.metalworking news group, where
around 50% of the posts are ignorant right-wing extremist rants, 10%
fairly reasonable political commentary and the remainder more or less
related to metalworking. (I usually skip the political stuff but
caught one about this URL by happenstance.)
- Mike
--
Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~.
/V\
[email protected] /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^
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