Who made your stereo? A captive 13 year old?

Chinese authorities announced May 1 that it had broken a child labor ring that forced rural kids aged 13 and 14 to work as many as 300 hours a month in export factories building toys and electronics.  A similar scandal was brought to light in 2007, involving brick kilns.  The children identified this year were paid about 2/3 of the Chinese minimum wage and no overtime; many were literally sold to the highest bidder upon arrival in an industrial city after being conned, kidnapped or sold by their parents to labor brokers.  Local and national government representatives and academics acknowledged that this is not an isolated problem.

This is the labor "bottom" that we are racing towards in our effort to reduce labor costs for consumer products, (and conversely, labor compensation) to a bare minimum.