Its not so much the minimum wage as it is everything else. I've never seen a factory where I live that has ever remotely paid minimum wage.

The problem is that, in America, the costs of manufacturing are generally outrageous in regards to permits and regulatory adherance, then of course, taxes on the corporation. There is usually a pretty notable distinction against hiring lots of full-time employees, as the larger a business grows, the more taxes and regulations are applied to it. For example, if you have over 20 full-time employees (which is almost always needed for a manufacturing company), you have to adhere to many more regulations and offer certain benefits...Making it very difficult to keep costs down.

Comparatively, if such laws weren't there, you'd likely see the cost of manufacturing plummet in the US. From my understanding, some states have focused so intently on removing these regulations (such as the Carolinas), that the cost of business is *almost* as cheap as China, and because of that, jobs are pouring into the state. Heck, in Georgia, there is a woodworking factory that is selling chopsticks to the Chinese at a rate of almost 1 billion units a year. Simply because their productivity is so high, and regulations are so agreeable (finally).

I wouldn't say that entirely.  Just take Texas for example.  You can be pretty much get fired if you try to start a union in any non union factory in Texas.  Sure there is a law that says they can't do that but that doesn't stop them with their intimidation or actual firing.  I don't even care to address the union factor because it is almost non existent in most manufacturing plants in Texas.  Texas also has pretty lax pollution standards and lets companies get away with just a slap on the wrist.  I can now move on to wages.  Most people in my plant are contract workers.  There are probably about 20-30% of the worker force that are hired on.  However, even after they hire you on you might even see a wage decrease for those all might benefits (they are actually pretty shitty compared to other jobs benefits).  So now you have most on contract not having to worry about health care cost, having paid time off, paid holidays, etc..  You pay a contract company probably 15-20 dollars a hour for each worker they hire on but you eliminate a lot of benefit costs.  The contract company then pays the worker 9.50-11 a hour and keeps anywhere from 4-10+ from each worker for every hour.  I am an ICT tester for Cisco boards after they come off the SMT line (after x-ray and add-on parts).  I first test the boards.  Granted my job is basic but there are issues that arise and you can't be completely brain dead.  I also have to stand for almost 8 hours a day while I work.  I get paid under 11 a hour with the 3rd shift bonus.  Even though it is slow sometimes (i work my ass off other times, especially after a tester quit and now they expect me to test for two lines most of the time unless both lines are running max speed).  Anyways, it would be nice to get 12+ since I supposedly handle thousands of dollars in server boards each day.

Its not so much the minimum wage as it is everything else. I've never seen a factory where I live that has ever remotely paid minimum wage.

The problem is that, in America, the costs of manufacturing are generally outrageous in regards to permits and regulatory adherance, then of course, taxes on the corporation. There is usually a pretty notable distinction against hiring lots of full-time employees, as the larger a business grows, the more taxes and regulations are applied to it. For example, if you have over 20 full-time employees (which is almost always needed for a manufacturing company), you have to adhere to many more regulations and offer certain benefits...Making it very difficult to keep costs down.

Comparatively, if such laws weren't there, you'd likely see the cost of manufacturing plummet in the US. From my understanding, some states have focused so intently on removing these regulations (such as the Carolinas), that the cost of business is *almost* as cheap as China, and because of that, jobs are pouring into the state. Heck, in Georgia, there is a woodworking factory that is selling chopsticks to the Chinese at a rate of almost 1 billion units a year. Simply because their productivity is so high, and regulations are so agreeable (finally).