With wages averaging 50 cents an hour, it is hard to see how Mexican workers can afford to buy autos, appliances and other American-made goods.

At the time, daily wages in Guangdong averaged 0.70 yuan, about 1/100 of wages in Hong Kong.

His wages average less than $6 an hour.

The hourly industrial wage in the city as of May averaged $12.49 compared to $11.15 nationwide.

But Miss Kennedy said the wages of Golden Apple workers averaged $5,000 to $7,000 a year.

Day laborers, whose wages average about $11 a day, gathered in the early morning chill to wait for offers of work.

He noted that I.B.M. officials had told him wages for the highly skilled work force the plant will employ would average about $50,000 annually.

Instead, wages averaged about $1.15 an hour last year, lower than 1981 levels.

The wages of a Silly Billy at the time were about two or three half-crowns per day, averaging about a pound a week, over the year.

A decade ago wages averaged $800 a month, but have now fallen to $40 a month and generally arrive three months late.