Apple's Chinese labourers get 1.6 per cent of iPad loot - report [View all]

[FarCenter]

As Apple desperately tries to repaint itself as a caring company when it comes to workers’ rights, news has emerged that employees in its suppliers’ Chinese factories get just $8 of the $499 sale price of each iPad 2.

Several news sources cite a Korea Daily report which claims that, based on average salaries, workers in the region get a 1.6 per cent slice of the pie, while Apple creams off $150 or around 30 per cent of the tablet’s retail price.

The figures are thrown into particularly stark contrast given that workers in Apple supplier factories in South Korea take home a much larger wedge - $34 per unit or 6.8 per cent of the sales price, according to the report.

The OECD’s South Korean representative, Kim Ki-jun, reportedly urged local businesses in the region to focus on entrepreneurship and innovation. He added that while tech giants will always locate manufacturing in regions with low labour costs, they could do more to reinvest their profits in said regions, according to Taiwanese news site WantChinaTimes.

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2012/02/15/apple_ipad_foxconn_workers_eight_dollars/