Labour costs were rising and the era of infinitely cheap labour was coming to an end.

Judge as of 2014-12-16, in the context Brooks gives (likely labour costs in manufacturing countries such as China, which had been the source of cheap labour). True: data show labour costs, such as manufacturing wages in China or similar low-cost producers, were rising substantially in the years up to 2014, making the era of very cheap offshore labour credibly ending. Mostly true: wages were clearly rising, but 'end of the era' is somewhat overstated, for example because cheap labour remained available in other countries. Mixed: labour costs were rising in some key places but flat in others relevant to the claim. Mostly false: rises were narrow or minor, presented as general. False: labour costs in the relevant economies were flat or falling.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific International Labour Organization (ILO) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Research Note: Wages, productivity and labour share in China · April 2016

   “Over the past two decades, wages in China have been rising steadily; this has accounted for much of the global wage growth.”

2. E2 Global wage growth stagnates, lags behind pre-crisis rates International Labour Organization (ILO) · 5 December 2014

   “Even this modest growth in global wages was driven almost entirely by emerging G20 economies, where wages increased by 6.7 per cent in 2012 and 5.9 per cent in 2013.”

3. E3 U.S. Manufacturing in International Perspective Congressional Research Service (via EveryCRSReport) · 1 March 2016

   “Over a longer time frame, labor costs in most European countries have risen relative to those in the United States (see Table 1).”

4. E4 U.S. Manufacturing in International Perspective Congressional Research Service (via EveryCRSReport) · 1 March 2016

   “Due largely to the strength of the dollar since the second half of 2014, most other countries have seen average compensation per hour expressed in U.S. dollar terms decline.”

An ILO research note (E1) says wages in China had been rising steadily for two decades and accounted for much of global wage growth. An ILO release from December 2014 (E2) says wages in emerging G20 economies rose 6.7% in 2012 and 5.9% in 2013. Together these support the claim that labour costs in the main low-cost manufacturing economies were rising substantially up to 2014. However, no source shows that the era of very cheap labour was actually ending. E4 notes that, largely because of the dollar's strength, average compensation per hour in US-dollar terms fell in most other countries after the second half of 2014; this is a currency effect after the claim's date and does not directly address whether the era of cheap labour was ending.