Photo Gallery The Great Prosperity Shift
All is not rosy in China. A number of copper plants in the country have had to cut outputs due to low world prices. Still, the overall industrial trend in China remains positive.
While more and more workers are entering industrial jobs in Asia, workers in Europe and North America find their relative wages falling and jobs disappearing. Here, workers at a Ford factory in Wixom, Michigan leave work. Their factory is one of 14 Ford said it would close to restore profitability.
Ford has struggled as sales of SUVs have dropped amid rising gas prices. Foreign rivals have taken market share due to the US automaker's lack of fuel-efficient compacts.
The German auto industry has been beset by strikes as workers demand higher wages -- like the DaimlerChrysler employees here. Higher labor costs in the West have forced many companies to head east.
Workers the world over are linked more than they imagine. This Volkswagen plant in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil let 1,800 workers go this summer and may be closed as the German automaker struggles to regain profitability.
China seeks to become the world's workshop. It does so with a combination of cheap labor and protectionist economic policy. Here, workers make leather shoes in eastern China.
China has quickly joined the club of economic powerhouses. The Chinese car maker Geely Automobile Holding Ltd. is considering whether to manufacture cars in the United States.
Hundreds of millions of workers in China have migrated from agricultural jobs in rural areas to factory jobs in the city. There are hundreds of millions more eager to make the switch. Here, the Tsingtao beer factory in Qingdao, China.
China has also emerged as a major new market for foreign manufacturers. Here, a worker walks past rows of brand new Mazdas. China, though, would prefer that Chinese car makers corner the domestic market for cheaper automobiles.
The Chinese economy follows a logic of growth at any price. Worker safety regulations are weak and pollution has become rampant.
