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The hidden downside of Santa's little helpers
The Irish Times
December 21, 2002

An investigation into the price of a Mattel Barbie doll, half of which is made in China, found that of the $10 retail price, $8 goes to transportation, marketing, retailing, wholesale and profit for Mattel.

Of the remaining $2, $1 is shared by the management and transportation in Hong Kong, and 65 cents is shared by the raw materials from Taiwan, Japan, the US and Saudi Arabia. The remaining 35 cents is earned by producers in China for providing factory sites, labour and electricity.

China now makes 70 per cent of the world's toys, and its exports have doubled in just eight years. In addition, it exported nearly a billion dollars' worth of Christmas-related goods, half of it to the United States.

Toy factories hire the least-skilled workers...Sixty per cent are young women between 17 and 23 years old who live cramped in company dormitories, 15 to a room, earning just 30 cents an hour and often inhaling spray paints, glue fumes and toxic dust.