News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Why the U.S. can't build icebreaking ships. Parent comment

Re:Why the U.S. can't build icebreaking ships by cyberax on Thursday September 26, 2024 @06:48PM (#41664371)
> For what it’s worth American workers as a whole make ~20x what Turkish workers do.

It's about 7x.

> 20x discrepancy in salaries

Not salaries. The end-product costs.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why the U.S. can't build icebreaking ships by vlovich123 on Friday September 27, 2024 @03:28AM (#41667346)
Average national salary in the US $60k [1] vs 5k for turkey so closer to 11-12x (the coasts typically pay closer to 70k). So at most unions are costing US built ships to be twice as expensive due to unions and overall higher US wages are responsible for the price difference - difficult to compete on price with people that are willing to work for 1/10th your wage unless you can automate significantly more than them.

[1]: https://www.usatoday.com/money/blueprint/business/hr-payroll...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why the U.S. can't build icebreaking ships by cyberax on Friday September 27, 2024 @06:43PM (#41676251)
I looked up the salary for qualified machinists in both countries, not the average.
[ Parent | on HN ]