I just recently purchased a shiny new iPod the other day to work out with and play as I fall asleep with my new shure headphones. I've been a bit late on the iPod bandwagon. Most of my music resided on my laptop or PDA, but the extra device worked a lot simpler than fiddling with the pda so I jumped on board.It's therefore a bit distressing to see a Macworld UK story about who makes our iPods. They're Chinese workers who live in a special large building with police guards, and it is for nothing but creating iPods. The workers have 15 hour days, and are paid roughly $50/month, half of which is taken out to cover food and board for the factory they live in and work at.
I'm sure the PowerBook I'm using, and any other laptop or media devices are made under similar circumstances. Still, for a company that has stressed thinking different and going against the grain, I'm surprised to see that Apple's Chinese workers are getting paid so little. I understand that there is a difference between a living wage in the US and in China, but according to this article about Nike workers, the living wage in China was something along the lines of $75 about five years back. At $25 take home for these workers, they're falling well under that kind of level, which is a shame to see.
[Disclosure: I own Apple stock at the date of this post]
[photo credit: ugaldew]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-13-2006 @ 3:11PM
Josh said...
I'm certainly not defending poor pay but the claimed wage is actually 54GBP per year which is closer to $100 than $50. Still not great.
6-13-2006 @ 3:13PM
Josh said...
Of course when I say 'year', I mean 'month'.
Sigh, it's been a long day.
6-13-2006 @ 3:20PM
Josh said...
I'm certainly not defending poor pay but the claimed wage is actually
54GBP per month which is closer to $100 than $50. Still not great.
6-13-2006 @ 5:08PM
tobias buckell said...
The article notes it's the iPod shuffle workers that make 54GBP, regular iPods are 27GBP.
6-13-2006 @ 6:23PM
bikermike said...
i thought this was about stock and technology. but if you want to talk about poor wages, how about Wal-Mart? the family are at the top 50 of the richest people int he world and the workers there get some of the lowest wages in the US.
6-18-2006 @ 12:50AM
Chris said...
Many times it is forgotten that people receiving low pay are doing so voluntarily. In other words, it's better than the alternative. If the alternative was better, they would be doing that instead.
It would be wrong if these people were forced to work, without a voluntary choice. As far as we know, they are not being forced.