Take, for example, a t-shirt that sells for $20.00 in the United States. This shirt is manufactured by an international corporation at one of its factories in El Salvador. This factory is one example of a maquiladora, which is a foreign-owned factory that assembles goods for export.

The Salvadoran workers producing the shirt were paid $ .56 an hour. On average, a worker is able to sew approximately 4.7 shirts per hour.

Using the information above, calculate the following:

• How much does a worker receive per t-shirt?_______

In 1994, the Salvadoran government calculated that to support a family at a bare-subsistence level, it would take approximately four times the wages provided by maquiladora worker.

• If a worker’s wages were quadrupled, how much would they make per hour?_______

• How much would they earn per t-shirt?_______

• If the company passed on this increased cost to the consumer, how much would a t-shirt cost?

Now imagine that a worker’s wages were increased by ten times.

• What would be their hourly rate?_______

• How much would they earn per shirt?_______

• If the company passed on this increased cost to the consumer, how much would you pay for the t-shirt?_______

(Minneapolis: Resource Center of the Americas, 1997).