Race To The Bottom

It has often been referred to as "the race to the bottom", the constant pursuit of lower labor costs throughout the world especially in the textile industry. The southeastern U.S. was at one point the epicenter of cheap clothing and towels. Following WWII, many of those jobs migrated to the lower cost labor pool in a recovering Japan. In more recent years, the opportunities have been more profitable in China. Now pressure in Chinese labor markets has created an opening for workers in Bangladesh who are willing to part with their labor for less. History will chase those jobs away eventually, but Chinese textile workers are now beginning to understand the feelings their brothers in the Carolinas felt not too long ago.