# What percent of China's economy benefits from prison labor?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-chinas-economy-benefits-from-prison-labor/510562>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 18, 2009, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-chinas-economy-benefits-from-prison-labor/510562 "2009-09-18T06:02:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-chinas-economy-benefits-from-prison-labor/510562/1 "2009-09-18T06:02:46Z")

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I’m wondering how much they are using and how much they’re profiting from it.

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-chinas-economy-benefits-from-prison-labor/510562/2 "2009-09-18T06:10:10Z")

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Hard to say. The US’s hands aren’t clean on this count either, though. Lots of telemarketers and newspaper inserters are inmates.

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**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-chinas-economy-benefits-from-prison-labor/510562/3 "2009-09-18T06:35:59Z")

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Well China haa not only a [lower incarceraion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States)rate than the US, they also have less prisoners:

> [@](#):
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> he United States has the highest documented incarceration rate,[3][4] and total documented prison population in the world.[3][5][6] As of year-end 2007, a record 7.2 million people were behind bars, on probation or on parole. Of the total, 2.3 million were incarcerated.[7] More than 1 in 100 American adults were incarcerated at the start of 2008. The People’s Republic of China ranks second with 1.5 million, while having four times the population, thus having only about 18% of the US incarceration rate.[8][9]

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**Author:** ![Ikkyu\_Sojun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cdc98d/32.png) [@Ikkyu\_Sojun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ikkyu_Sojun)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-chinas-economy-benefits-from-prison-labor/510562/4 "2009-09-18T09:29:37Z")

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It is difficult to say anything about the Chinese prison system with total certainty, but probably not much.

First, because not all Chinese prisons are _laogai_, with a forced labor system. Second, because the manufacturing capacity of China is so enormous, in terms of labor inputs, that the prisoners are but a very small part of it. And third because no matter how forced the labor might be, I would be willing to bet the low productivity makes up for any labor cost savings.

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**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-chinas-economy-benefits-from-prison-labor/510562/5 "2009-09-18T09:33:37Z")

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I dunno, but around here I can get a beach mat for under $1.

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**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-chinas-economy-benefits-from-prison-labor/510562/6 "2009-09-18T11:16:46Z")

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> [@Krokodil](#):
>
> Hard to say. The US’s hands aren’t clean on this count either, though. Lots of telemarketers and newspaper inserters are inmates.

Are those US inmates forced to participate, or do they opt into those jobs?

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-chinas-economy-benefits-from-prison-labor/510562/7 "2009-09-18T14:53:19Z")

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> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> Are those US inmates forced to participate, or do they opt into those jobs?

I’m sure they opt into them. Still, they enable the “employers” to compete in the marketplace with negligible labor costs, which was kinda the point of the OP. Employers who pay a living wage hurt when going head to head with employers who don’t.