First, the share of developing countries in global exports crossed 30 per cent in 2000 and reached 40 per cent in 2010, which reflects a significant growth from the average level of 25 per cent during the 1970s and 1980s - the period that was the focus of the earlier trade-inequality debate.8 Second, the growth of developing countries’ exports of manufactures has been concentrated in only a few countries, especially China. China’s per capita income and wages are considerably lower than in those economies which accounted for the bulk of manufactured exports from developing to developed countries in the 1970s and 1980s, such as the Republic of Korea and Taiwan Province of China, as well as other countries that had experienced rapid economic catch-up after the Second World War, such as Japan and Germany. Even though data that allow precise cross-country comparisons are available only forthe period since 1975, a comparison of the wage levels in manufacturing of countries experiencing rapid economic catch-up relative to United States levels broadly shows that there are still substantial wage differences between some of the main developing-country exporters of manufactures and their developed-country partners (chart 4.3).