Inflation in China

Editor,

In a recent article about inflation in China the NYT reported that low-end Chinese workers earn $125 per month. How many hours per month they work was not mentioned, so these workers' hourly pay was not stated. Since people who are paid the least always work the longest hours, it is probably fair to assume that to earn the sum reported these workers work from 12 to 15 hours a day 6 or 7 days a week. This amounts to at least 72 hours a week, or 288 hours a month, and translates into wages of 43 cents an hour or less.

It is no secret that the NYT is a strong advocate of "free" trade, so I am not surprised that the $125 monthly figure, which casts "free" trade in rather a benign light, was reported instead of 43 cents a hour or even $1500 a year. But to frame "free" trade in a way that is favorable to the idea of concentrating wealth in the hands of international investors but distorts the details of how "free" trade impacts everybody else is subversive in my view to the interests of society as a whole.