Erecting trade barriers slows economic growth and hurts labor standards in China.

• Protectionist measures exacerbate the factors that contribute to poor labor standards, including poverty and political and regulatory weak-ness, hindering the development necessary to raise labor standards.
• Labor standards are directly linked to economic development. For example, there is far more child labor in countries that are poor than in wealthy ones. Liberalized trade generates more wealth. As a country’s wealth increases, labor standards also increase.
• China’s economic development is putting pressure on employers to improve working conditions for Chinese workers. Companies in China are now offering higher pay and better working conditions to retain workers.

Increased economic engagement with China results in better working conditions for Chinese workers and stronger advocacy for workers’ rights.

• Multinationals pay higher wages, create jobs more quickly, and invest more in research and development than local firms do. Multinationals also expose local workers and local companies to good corporate gover-nance, as well as respect for individual worker rights.
• A survey of the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing found that U.S.-based companies in China pay an average hourly wage that is about three times higher than the hourly wage at comparable non-U.S. factories.
• Foreign corporations have adopted corporate codes of conduct that promote workers’ rights, including fair and safe working conditions for workers, nondiscrimination policies, the right of association and collective bargaining, and prohibitions on child labor.
• In China’s newly competitive business environment, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, a Chinese government agency, has taken a more proactive approach to workers’ rights.