It is not a question of lack of growth or low growth rates than those in the developed world in the corresponding period of industrial development. What gives?
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If I'm understanding this thread's progress correctly, the question is why many people in developing countries find themselves living on sub-subsistence wages though the rates of industrial growth in several of these countries seems more than sufficient to provide decent wages pegged to the local cost of living.
Perhaps the depth and width of the industrial development in a given country (or the lack thereof) explains why the citizens of one country enjoy higher standards of living -- on average -- than the citizens of another nation with similar rates of growth.
The comparative listing of Asian nations you posted included Thailand and S. Korea among a few others. The depth and width of the industrial and techno sphere in S. Korea is quite impressive, providing (until recent troubles) high wage skilled labor for millions upon millions in both primarily physical and mental categories of labor (known in the US as 'blue' and 'white' collar).
S. Korean brands such as Samsung, Hyundai, Kia, LT and Kingston are a global presence. The CPU in my PC was manufactured in S. Korea as was the RAM. These are intensive enterprises which absorb much surplus labor and have a cascading, modernizng effect upon the entire S. Korean culture. When I touched down in Seoul and began exploring the city, I felt I'd left the American 20th century and really entered the 21st.
This was equally true of some of the very small towns I visited.
The penetration of techno/industrialization is complete in S. Korea.
Although Indonesia, by comparison, has experienced impressive rates of growth and is a modern nation what percentage of Indonesians are employed in the higher wage labor pool -- either industrial or 'post-industrial'?
Perhaps the limitation of the skilled labor pool to only a limited slice of the total population partly explains the sub-subsistence wages of many millions of people.
DRM