Offshoring and China

                Offshoring and outsourcing have been serious issues in many recent elections.  Politicians have stood on stages and screamed about the issues until they are blue in the face.  The media is full of reporters telling us that outsourcing is running rampant.  But is the trend as bad as they make it out to be?  Many economists would say no.  according to the article “Welcome Home,” “bringing jobs back to the rich world is as much in vogue as sending them to China was a decade ago” (Welcome Home 1); according to Dr. Nantz of Fairfield university, the trend is certainly “stabilizing, if not decreasing.”  Despite these trends, offshoring in China still exists and remains a danger to all involved.

                China was at one time the location for outsourcing.  Even now, a large percentage of common products display the words made in China on the bottom.   “780,000,000” jobs have been outsourced to China (Outsourcing Stats), and most people assume that everything is made there.  

                It is a surprise to learn that China in fact ranks third, behind India and Indonesia.

                Or is it? 

                China, which used to be a haven of cheap workers, is beginning to cost more than in the past.  In 2010, Beijing announced that the minimum monthly wage would be raised to at least “$140,” which was an increase of “20 percent” (China’s Wages Rise).  As a result, many companies are ending their relationship with the Chinese economy and begun returning home.  Of those who remain, Chinese living conditions should be improving, no? The workers are beginning to earn more money, which should – theoretically at least – allow them to improve their lives.  Unfortunately, due to poor safety standards at the factory and a continued obsession with profits, this is not the case.

                Apple, the famous company behind the iPhone and other iProducts, has been in the news recently for its appalling standards when it comes to the safety of its workers.  The month of January saw a massive explosion in which “two people were killed immediately and over a dozen others were hurt” (Human Costs).  Previously, workers were “ordered to use n-hexane to clean iPhone screens” (Human Costs).  N-hexane is a dangerous chemical that injured 137 workers before they were banned.

                Perhaps businesses are beginning to see the dangers of outsourcing; they are beginning to regret having so much blood on their hands in order to increase profit.  Even those who claim that globalization and outsourcing increases cultural understanding must admit that the countless lives lost to corporate greed are not actually worth it.

 Works Cited

Barboza, David. "As China's Wages Rise, Export Prices Could Follow." The New York Times. The             New York  Times, 08 June 2010. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

Duhigg, Charles, David Barboza, and Gu Huini. "THE IECONOMY; In China, the Human Costs

           That AreBuilt Into an IPad." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Jan. 2012. Web.

            04 Mar. 2013.

"Job Outsourcing Statistics." Statisticsbrain.com. N.p., 20 July 2012. Web. 01 Mar. 2013.

"Offshoring: Welcome Home." The Economist. The Economist, 19 Jan. 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.