Why did many working class Americans elect Donald Trump in November 2016? Because he promised factory jobs would come back to the USA. But one NYU grad student says not so. He addressed American iPhone jobs and why Americans won’t see them.
So NYU student Dejian Zeng spent last summer working at an iPhone center at the Pentragon. That’s one of Apple’s biggest iPhone building places in China. Also, China’s Labor Watch Party helped organize this trip. Zeng worked 12 hour shifts at this iPhone factory. Furthermore, he worked Monday through Saturday. If my math is right’s that’s 72 hours a week. Zeng needed no resume, interview, or qualifications to get the job.
He just went there and stood in a long line. Then, they simply asked to see his ID and to recite the alphabet in English. They hired Zeng immediately. Then there’s the issue of pay. The average Chinese iPhone maker gets $450 a month. That salary will hardly take care of any American in 2017. Zeng also says if these jobs come to the USA, robots will work them. But Zeng says something that surprises me. Even Chinese workers are starting to get expensive. Because China is a fast rising economy and major world player. So to combat this, Apple is moving jobs to Vietnam, Bangladesh, and other Asian nations, where they can still keep the salaries low. This is why there won’t be American iPhone jobs anytime soon.
Zeng’s findings are disturbing, but not surprising. There was a time in the USA where anybody could walk in a manufacturing plant and just get a job. Now, you need a degree for everything. Also, it’s obvious Apple isn’t going to pay American workers their worth. It sounds like they don’t even want to pay Chinese workers their worth. I try to sympathize with Apple, but I can’t. I can’t because read how little it costs to make an iPhone. But if jobs do come back to America, you can bet iPhone prices will skyrocket. Not many Americans can, or will, ?pay that. And take it from our Boston computer service shop, often times it costs little to do a screen replacement. So in this cycle of cost and exploitation, where do we go from here?