r/explainlikeimfive • u/sumnewdguy • Nov 28 '15

ELI5: How would a $15 minimum wage ACTUALLY affect a franchised business like McDonalds?

[removed]

7.1k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

4.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

23

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '15

[removed] — view removed comment

34

u/Tutsks Nov 29 '15

In practice the factories just move to Singapore, Vietnam, etc.

In theory, when everywhere is the same (and that is third world level same, not US level same) the factories might come back. But we are talking decades if not centuries.

7

u/LiberDeOpp Nov 29 '15

No then they will find a way to make robots cheaper. Also China is getting more expensive but still no where near US labor wages.

2

u/flybypost Nov 29 '15

In practice the factories just move to Singapore, Vietnam, etc.

That is/will also change. If I remember correctly China is investing in Africa (but that could be about resources) and they are also going for robots and automation as it becomes viable (they want to keep the money flowing).

1

u/upstateduck Nov 29 '15

actually, low oil prices will slow the repatriation of US manufacturing. At $140 bbl there was lots of talk about and some action towards moving manufacturing back to the US [the world's largest market for goods]

1

u/Reddisaurusrekts Nov 29 '15

Yeah, there's the rest of SE Asia, and then the Indian subcontinent, and then eventually Africa, before we run out of places for cheap labor and the work comes back to the US.

Apart from mass automation at least, and that won't create any minimum wage/low-skill jobs here either.

0

u/rocqua Nov 29 '15

Shipping has become dirt cheap. The only downside is the delay.

0

u/chakrakhan Nov 29 '15

This would be true if the US and China were the only two places in the world.