Apple, iPod and China

Last week, there was a lot of hub-bub in the Western media about how Apple's iPods are manufactured in horrendous slave-like conditions in Shenzen, China. To summarize a typical report: The average Chinese worker making an iPod in Shenzen makes about $50 USD a week and is forced to pay for housing provided by the factory. The conclusion and spirit of a CNN report was made in an interview of a Western economics analyst who said something to the affect of, "No wonder why they can manufacture things so much cheaper than anyone else. They don't pay fair wages!"

While I was living in the U.S. I would probably brush it off as typical bad Chinese behaviour and think, "How horrible the Chinese businesses and governments are to allow such exploitation." So now that I live here, do I think any differently? Maybe not entirely. But I do have another perspective now.

Shenzen is just across the border from Hong Kong. It's less than a half hour train ride from the university. I've been there once, but know people who live and visit it quite often. Shenzen is known to be a cheap city to eat, drink and shop in. $50 USD a week comes out to almost $1,600 RMB a month. I asked one of my co-workeres in HK about that rate and she said that sounds about the market rate for a factory worker in Shenzen. Is that a liveable wage in a city like Shenzen? I'm really not sure. But I do know the cost of living in Shenzen is significantly less than HK. For example, in a previous blog entry I wrote about how I had a huge meal, more than enough for 3 people, at a pretty nice Shenzen restaurant for $6 USD!

Now, I do believe those factory workers could be paid more and could probably be treated better. But the tone and implied conclusion of these reports irked me. On one hand the Western media and industry talk about the low and sometimes unfair Chinese wages and industry. On the other hand, I know how Western companies pressure Chinese companies to keep wages low. In fact, I've experienced this several times myself when bidding on Western contracts. When I quote a fair price far below Western rates, some Western companies often ask for even lower "Chinese prices."

So which is it? Raise Chinese wages or keep them low? At the university, I lecture on visual FX and animation, not economics. So I don't even pretend to know the answers. But I do know Apple isn't the only big Western company taking advantage of Chinese labor and the people here are trying to make a living and grow their industries. Things are a lot more complicated than the West often paints things. From my perspective, the tone and hypocrisy of the contradicting messages from the West can sometimes be more than a little frustrating!