[Mark17]

Ping

[King Moonracer]

he average price of a Big Mac in America is $4.62; in China its $2.74

[Erik Latranyi]

Typical liberal bullshit.

You cannot compare wages between two nations with vastly different costs of living.

The FACT is that China wages are rising rapidly and it is not as attractive for assembly work as it was in the past. India is the new favorite destination for such work.

But liberals do this within the US and compare an $8 per hour job in New York with one in Arkansas.....vastly different costs of living.

But socialists see everything as one size fits all...if you don’t like it, then you must adjust to your one option.

Capitalism offers multiple sizes for you to choose from so you can find exactly what fits you best.

[RoosterRedux]

The amount of a wage is irrelevant unless it is expressed in terms of (as a percentage of, for example) the cost of living. That is why a national minimum wage is naive to the point of stupidity.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

They’re a communist country. Why do they need wages at all?

[Sooth2222]

I earned $0.25/hour in my first job.

[Vaquero]

With the trump tariffs I feel iPhones will be made elsewhere in ‘the Rim’.

[junta]

Move to Vietnam, my wife convinced me to watch Amazing Race and from that bit of open source intelligence IMO that should be the next “It” place next to our country of course.

[Elsie]

Workers Making Apple IPhones Start at $3.15 Per Hour -- in China

So?

What's the cost of living - in China?

[jerod]

I think we can all agree that life in China and wages in China are both cheap. And worst of all... You have to live in China. But if you want to only pay $1,000+ per phone, then you need to make them in China. Otherwise, you’d be paying $10,000 for a phone.

The reality is, phones cost next to nothing to manufacture and phone companies do not pay very much for these phones. They sell them at exorbitant prices or charge customers monthly to have a phone. Charging monthly for a phone was eliminated in the home phone market back in the 1980s... At that time phone companies used to charge customers for their phones... Customers ended up shelling out monthly rent over a 20 year period and essentially paying hundreds of times the actual cost of the phone.

So what goes around, comes around. It’s all back to square one and phone companies are doing the same thing today that the government outlawed them from doing years ago.

[knarf]

Shifting manufacturing from China to America may not work so well because the Chinese have incentive to work for $3.15 an hour whereas American youths aren't all that enthusiastic about $7.25.

Over the years I've seen more elderly, middle aged and special needs people in the fast food chains.

Not as many kids in high school seem to be working.

I worked two jobs in high school before going into the Army in '65.

Pumpin' gas (which is also check oil, water, wipe windsheild etc.) and busboy at a greasy spoon.

I left the gas station gig because I thought I'd meet girls .... nope.

Now, the greasy spoon after school was LOADED with chicks !

[Elsie]

"Running at full tilt, the factory here, owned and operated by Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn, can produce 500,000 iPhones a day," reported The Times.

Those Chinese sure have nimble fingers!

[oldtech]

In terms of cost-of-living how does that $3.15/hr. wage in China compare with U.S. prices & wages?

[dp0622]

OK that’s fine but then WTF are they a gazillion dollars?

The hysteria here in the US among corporations is a one dollar raise across the board equals a quadrillion dollars in hits to earnings.

#### em. Hit em with a tariff to sell them here.

I don’t give a #### what the different cost of living is.

Sounds like FR is swinging back to “free market at any cost” thinking.

That was quick.

The sad part is Trump would flip about this so why did those who this bothers so much, it being reported, vote or him?

[9YearLurker]

Do we know how many assembly hours there are per phone?

What I don’t get is why someone doesn’t make the case against globally shipping pollution costs on all this stuff made in Asia generally. We know lots of stuff gets mailed by the UN’s special developing-country rates for less than US products can be mailed domestically, which is an issue into urself, but so much gets shipped by massively pollutive freighter that no greenies should approve of.

[nothingnew]

That $3.15 per hour is less than half the U.S. minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

So? I am one that does not care. Why should I? Communist China is still Communist China.

Screw'em.

FMCDH(BITS)

[bgill]

As much as I despise Apple, spit, one must ask what the average wage is there. I’m sure it’s all a wash.

[central_va]

The TOTAL labor cost per iPhone is $16.00. Even if you made them in the USA the price would only go up $10.00 per phone. Combined with lower energy and shipping costs I'd say the $800 iPhone would still cost $800.00 if made in the USA.

Bring manufacturing home.

[AmericanCheeseFood]

I’m curious when leftist crap news will actually notice that wages are on the rise in the U.s. and stop acting like the rest of the world needs our attention.

[Swordmaker]

"Apple has said the starting pay for workers at the world's biggest iPhone factory, in Zhengzhou, China, is about $3.15 an hour," The Times reported in a story published two weeks ago.

That $3.15 per hour is less than half the U.S. minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.”

This is what I have been saying for years, but people have not understood that one has to put it in perspective of comparative economies. What the New York Times article neglects to include is that the cost of living in China is about one fifth of the cost of living in the United States. Being paid one half of the US minimum wage in an economic environment that has a cost of living that is 20% of that in the US is far better wages than it sounds when they compare it to the a much higher economic environment. The adjusted minimum wage comparison would make that wage equivalent to a starting rate of $15.75 per hour in the US. To put that in comparison, a two bedroom apartment in Zhengzhou rents for the equivalent $50 US a month, adjusted $250 per month, or the worker can sleep free in a factory paid dormitory. The typical worker can also work an additional 20 hours of overtime per week (Apple contract limit) over the standard 40 hours. Unfortunately, Chinese labor laws do not mandate time and a half for overtime. The NYT also doesn’t mention that work on other assembly lines making other consumer electronics for other brands starts at around $2.40 per hour. Apple’s contracts with its subcontractors requires the workers be paid better than the prevailing wages. — PING!

New York Times Compares Chinese Wages to US Wages
to Try to Smear Apple (and Probably Trump) Ping!

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