Who Makes Your Iphone?

 

Who Makes Your iPhone?

The popularity of iPods, iPhones, and iPads around the world shows that Apple products are wanted by many people. If you do not own one of these gadgets, you probably know someone who does.

 

Apple has been celebrated for products that are easy to use and work great. Apple founder, chairman, and CEO Steve Jobs, who died in October 2011, has been honored not only as a brilliant inventor but as a major "job creator."

 

But how good are those Apple jobs? Like virtually all of its competitors - including Dell, Hewlett Packard, and Sony - Apple uses Chinese labor to manufacture its products. These companies want to pay their workers as little as possible to increase profits (the money that they make) by outsourcing production overseas (setting up factories in other countries) where workers' wages are way lower than in U.S.

 

What is it like to work in a factory that manufactures Apple products? According to recent reports, it's not very pleasant. Chinese workers spend long hours standing on the assembly line, they are paid poorly for their labor (around $42 per week, according to recent estimates), and some have been exposed to toxic chemicals. Earlier this year, the New York Times published several stories in what it calls its "iEconomy series" that discussed conditions inside of some of the Chinese factories making iPhones and iPads. As reporters Charles Duhigg and David Barboza wrote in a January 25, 2012 article:

 

Employees work long hours, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple's products, and the company's suppliers have not disposed of waste safely. More troubling, the groups say, is they don’t seem to care about their workers' health.

 

In the factories of an Apple supplier called Foxconn, 14 workers committed suicide in a 16-month period. According to the British newspaper the Daily Mail, the string of suicides prompted the factories to require prospective workers to sign pledges not to kill themselves before being hired:

 

At least 14 workers at Foxconn factories in China have killed themselves in the last 16 months as a result of horrible working conditions.

  

After a lot of suicides last year, managers at the factories ordered new staff to sign pledges that they would not attempt to kill themselves, according to researchers.

And they were made to promise that if they did, their families would not be paid very much in damages.

Apple has made a ton of money from these low wages. As the New York Times reported, "Last year, [Apple] earned over $400,000 in profit per employee, more than Goldman Sachs, Exxon Mobil or Google."

 

There is some disagreement over whether the Chinese factories that make Apple products constitute "sweatshops." Nevertheless, the reports about these factories should remind us to stop and think about how the products we buy are made, by whom, and under what conditions.

 

 

Globalization and Trade

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Globalization is how different parts of the world are connected. People, ideas and goods move more easily around the world.

Globalization also changes the way companies and countries trade with each other. This shows how globalization affects economies. Globalization has improved people's lives in poor countries. However, sometimes globalization doesn't bring new jobs or money to other countries.

Globalization In the Past

Globalization is not new. People have always traded goods with their neighbors. At one point, people began traveling to distant places. People traded their own goods for other products.

The Silk Road is an example of early globalization. The Silk Road was an old system of trade routes. The routes connected the continents of Europe and Asia. China is a country in Asia. The Silk Road was helpful because there were no trains then. Europeans traded products made of glass and other goods for Chinese silk and spices.

Image 2. This map shows the main routes of the Silk Road. Photo from: Wikipedia.

Later on, trade developed between Europe, Africa and America. Sadly, most of it involved slavery. This showed how globalization can truly hurt people. European ships carried products from Europe to Africa. In Africa, the products were traded for enslaved Africans. These enslaved Africans were then forced to go to the Americas. From the Americas, the ships carried raw materials like sugar, tobacco and cotton back to Europe. In Europe, the raw materials were used to make products. Then those products were brought back to Africa again. The cycle started over. This cycle was called the Triangular Trade. 

Globalization has grown in recent years. It is easier to send money and products to other countries. It is simpler for companies to contact other countries. Countries signed agreements that make it all easier for them.

Benefits Of Globalization

Globalization gives large companies an advantage. Companies can get materials for less money in poorer countries. They can pay less money to workers in those countries.

Also, different parts of a product may be made in different countries. T-shirts made of cotton are one example. Cotton is a plant. It might be grown in one country. Then, in another country the T-shirt is woven from those pieces of cotton.

Image 3. A McDonald's in Morocco. This restaurant chain is sometimes seen as a sign of globalization, called "McDonaldization. Photo from: Wikimedia Commons / Soman.

The result is more jobs in countries where jobs are needed. More jobs make people's lives more comfortable. People who buy the products are doing better, too. In general, globalization makes prices of goods lower. For example, globalization makes t-shirts cheaper.  Also, there are more goods for people to choose from.

Downsides

Not everything about globalization is good. Many jobs were moved to different countries. The people who had those jobs before were left without jobs.

In poorer countries, the working conditions of people are often very difficult. People there are paid very little for a whole month of work. A worker in the United States may get more money in one day than they do in a whole month. Also, children of poorer families may quit school so they can work.

Into The Future

Globalization is not perfect. However, globalization will continue. The result is a more connected world.