Well, the article focuses on manufacturing but it does highlight what many American workers are up against. The following are two quotes from the article:
"The Chinese government had agreed to underwrite costs for numerous industries, and those subsidies had trickled down to the glass-cutting factory. It had a warehouse filled with glass samples available to Apple, free of charge. The owners made engineers available at almost no cost. They had built on-site dormitories so employees would be available 24 hours a day."
"The facility has 230,000 employees, many working six days a week, often spending up to 12 hours a day at the plant. Over a quarter of Foxconn’s work force lives in company barracks and many workers earn less than $17 a day."
Compared to many of their fellow Chinese citizens these factory workers are earning a decent wage. That said, I doubt that any of them can afford to purchase one of the many products that Foxconn produces. Supposedly, GM sold more cars in China last year than it did in the U.S. I wonder where all of those GM car buying Chinese consumers work?
The following is why American based companies of all sizes are now using Asian countries to manufacture their products:
* Varies government subsidies.
* Extremely low-wage labor.
* No or very little environmental laws.
* No or very little employee labor protection. I have read estimates that state somewhere between 1% to 5% of Foxconn's labor force consists of underage teenagers.
Ex General Electric CEO Jack Welch once said that if he could he would have all of his factories located on large ships and simply move to a different port when labor got too expensive (for his taste).
People need to keep in mind that not every U.S. company has their manufacturing operations located within an Asian country. Some northern factories have simply moved to southern states or whatever state is able to give them the best deal and some companies have factories in South American countries such as Mexico and Brazil. Of course, there are also plenty of American solo entrepreneurs who have the product that they design and sell made in other countries as well.
I cannot really blame companies for doing what they believe is best for them. I do blame our current and past Congressman for allowing this mess to happen and continue. Our representatives might not be able to do much about automation, however, they could certainly do something about offshoring and inshoring.
America is structurally designed around consumerism and for this to work in the long run you need a robust middle class that is willing and able to spend the money that they earn. It will take some time but prices will eventually fall in this country when consumers stop spending (due to too much debt and no access to additional credit).
While technology has already disrupted a lot of industries, lowered the number of people employed and increased the marginal revenue product of labor, I think we are just getting started. At some point, if we aren't there already, we are going to be in a situation where our long-term labor needs are substantially less than the supply. I am certainly not advocating a Luddite inspired revolt against technology or remaining inefficient for the sake of keeping people employed, but those who argue that the reduced need for labor is all rainbows and unicorns often fail to account for the human element of the labor equation.
Although the future looks very bleak for this country, it doesn't bother me too much. I lived a fairly decent life so far and by the time the shit really hits the fan (if it actually does) I will be too old (if I am still alive) to care about what happens to myself, my community, and my relatives.
