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There's a long way to go before there's anything approaching parity with the US. $400/month is still less than $5000/year. Federal minimum wage in the US for 4
by nknight 15y ago
There's a long way to go before there's anything approaching parity with the US.
$400/month is still less than $5000/year. Federal minimum wage in the US for 40 hours/week with no overtime comes out to just over $15,000/year, and it's unlikely most of the workers in a hypothetical US iPhone factory would be making minimum wage.
Remember, the Foxconn workers are already making a lot more than most Chinese manage. These workers are getting attention because of Apple's unusual public image and high profile. There's a lot worse to be found in China.
- davorb 15y agoDoesn't quite work that way since US workers get payed in dollars and Chinese workers get paid in yuan. Once the Chinese government stops artificially keeping it's currency low, it should even out.
- Volpe 15y agoOnce they do something they've explicitly said they have no intention of doing any time soon...
- danmaz74 15y agoThese workers are getting attention because of Apple's unusual public image and high profile and unusually high margins and profits...
- InclinedPlane 15y agoCost of living is not the same in China and the US though. In terms of purchasing power $5k/year is more like $25k/year. Not exactly posh, but not the extreme poverty a naive calculation would lead you to believe.
- nknight 15y agoOh I get that. I'm usually the guy who points that out. I'm just saying the economics don't really support moving manufacturing jobs back to the US at this point, and probably won't soon.