The rising costs of skilled labor

Shanghai Scrap comes with some interesting details on the rising costs of skilled labor:

In Tianjin, for example, two separate owners told me that the price of skilled machinists had risen 30% over the last year to roughly RMB 3000 (US$378) per month. New trainees can expect to be paid roughly RMB 1000 (US$126) - and factory owners can expect to lose them to higher paying employers within weeks. One owner complained that rival machine shops post recruiters outside of his factory gates, offering higher salaries. (to which I say: good for the machinists).

Since there is little trustworthy research done into the wages in China, so all these anecdotes are rather useful.