CUPERTINO, CALIF. — Giving new meaning to corporate
social responsibility, Apple Inc. announced it is “bringing home” more than
700,000 manufacturing jobs currently held by workers in foreign countries.
“As a leading corporate citizen of the United States,”
the company said in a press release, “Apple can’t help but feel some sort of
responsibility to its fellow Americans. So why not start hiring them?”
Apple plans to spread the employment across ten different
U.S. cities, bringing each city an average of 70,000 new jobs, all with full
benefits, by the end of 2013.
“We basically just gave our outsourcing team a different
task,” Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook told The OB Rag. “Instead of scouring
third-world countries to find where workers come cheapest, we surveyed America
to find areas where these new jobs would make the most sense.”
Currently, 12.8 million people are unemployed in the
United States, a rate of 8.3%. But Apple’s plan will provide jobs to at least
700,000 Americans, slashing the rate to 7.8% and providing a needed surge to
the American economy.
Apple said entry-level assembly-line jobs it was bringing
to the United States would pay an average of $25 an hour, or about 10 times the
rate currently earned by a typical Apple employee in China.
“When the dust settles, this might reduce Apple’s profit
margins and put upward pressure on the price of Apple products,” the company’s
press release said. “But honestly, Apple can afford it, and so can Apple
consumers. So we’re honored to be in a position to help make America stronger.”
Wealthy consumers around the world have embraced products
such as the iPhone and the iPad, drawn to their reputation for high quality and
— perhaps more importantly — the social value seemingly signified by their
possession.
Accordingly, Apple’s profits have soared and its stock
market value has surpassed all other publicly traded companies.
With this success have come more questions about Apple’s
hiring practices. A recent New York Times expose revealed the company employs
only 43,000 people in the United States versus 700,000 people through
sub-contractors in foreign countries with lower standards of living.
Success has also swelled Apple’s cash hoard to an
incredible $98 billion.
“Frankly speaking, it’s more than we need to run the
company,” CEO Tim Cook told shareholders at Apple’s recent annual meeting.
Cook acknowledged that some shareholders might prefer to
see Apple pay out much of the cash in a massive one-time dividend. “This isn’t
a case where 100 percent of people are going to agree with what we do,” he
said.
Indeed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a statement
condemning Apple’s plan. “Just because corporations get the rights of American
citizens doesn’t mean they should be burdened by the same responsibilities,”
the statement said. “For example,
everyone knows people can’t kill people — but sometimes job creators like
corporations need to be able to kill people, as the Supreme Court is working on
right now.”
Alan Ableman, a 35-year-old former construction worker
who has been unable to find work since 2008…couldn’t agree more…“I hope other
executives start thinking like Apple executives,” Ableman said. “Because if
America’s most valuable companies don’t start hiring Americans, what kind of an
America will we all end up with?”
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