How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work
美國(guó)如何錯(cuò)失iPhone訂單

When Barack Obama joined Silicon Valley’s top luminaries for dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a question for the president.

去年二月份，奧巴馬在加州與硅谷頂級(jí)名流會(huì)餐，出席嘉賓每人須向總統(tǒng)提一個(gè)問(wèn)題。

But as Steven P. Jobs of Apple spoke, President Obama interrupted with an inquiry of his own: what would it take to make iPhones in the United States?

輪到蘋(píng)果老總喬布斯發(fā)言時(shí)，奧巴馬用自己的問(wèn)題打斷他的話：如何才能讓蘋(píng)果在美國(guó)生產(chǎn)手機(jī)？

Not long ago, Apple boasted that its products were made in America. Today, few are. Almost all of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads and 59 million other products Apple sold last year were manufactured overseas.

不久前，蘋(píng)果號(hào)稱其產(chǎn)品產(chǎn)自美國(guó)，如今，幾乎沒(méi)有。蘋(píng)果公司去年共售出七千萬(wàn)臺(tái)手機(jī)、三千萬(wàn)臺(tái)平板電腦及五千九百萬(wàn)件其它產(chǎn)品，幾乎全部產(chǎn)自海外。

Why can’t that work come home? Mr. Obama asked.

奧巴馬問(wèn)到，為什么這些工作不能回到美國(guó)？

Mr. Jobs’s reply was unambiguous. “Those jobs aren’t coming back,” he said, according to another dinner guest.

據(jù)另一位在場(chǎng)嘉賓講，喬布斯直截了當(dāng)?shù)卮鸬剑海⑦@些工作不會(huì)回來(lái)了。＂

The president’s question touched upon a central conviction at Apple. It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Apple’s executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that “Made in the U.S.A.” is no longer a viable option for most Apple products.

總統(tǒng)的提問(wèn)觸及蘋(píng)果的中心信念。不僅僅是海外員工更廉價(jià)，蘋(píng)果執(zhí)行官們相信海外工廠的龐大規(guī)模及外國(guó)工人的靈活性、敬業(yè)精神及工業(yè)技能遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)美國(guó)，以至于對(duì)大多數(shù)蘋(píng)果產(chǎn)品來(lái)說(shuō)＂美國(guó)制造＂不再是一個(gè)可行的選項(xiàng)。

Apple has become one of the best-known, most admired and most imitated companies on earth, in part through an unrelenting mastery of global operations. Last year, it earned over $400,000 in profit per employee, more than Goldman Sachs, Exxon Mobil or Google.

蘋(píng)果已經(jīng)成為地球上最著名、最受崇敬、最被他人模仿的公司之一，如此成就部分歸功于蘋(píng)果將全球運(yùn)作發(fā)揮得淋漓盡致。去年，蘋(píng)果員工人均盈利四十萬(wàn)美元，超過(guò)高盛、埃克森美孚和谷歌。

However, what has vexed Mr. Obama as well as economists and policy makers is that Apple — and many of its high-technology peers — are not nearly as avid in creating American jobs as other famous companies were in their heydays.

但最令?yuàn)W巴馬、經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家、決策者及許多高科技同行沮喪的是：蘋(píng)果遠(yuǎn)不如其它著名公司那樣熱衷于在它們的鼎盛時(shí)期創(chuàng)造美國(guó)工作。

Apple employs 43,000 people in the United States and 20,000 overseas, a small fraction of the over 400,000 American workers at General Motors in the 1950s, or the hundreds of thousands at General Electric in the 1980s. Many more people work for Apple’s contractors: an additional 700,000 people engineer, build and assemble iPads, iPhones and Apple’s other products. But almost none of them work in the United States. Instead, they work for foreign companies in Asia, Europe and elsewhere, at factories that almost every electronics designer relies upon to build their wares.

蘋(píng)果在美國(guó)雇傭四萬(wàn)三千人，海外員工為兩萬(wàn)，僅為通用汽車(chē)在上世紀(jì)五十年代四十萬(wàn)美國(guó)職工的零頭，通用電氣在八十年代的美國(guó)雇員也高達(dá)數(shù)十萬(wàn)。更多的人則為蘋(píng)果的供應(yīng)商工作：約七十萬(wàn)人設(shè)計(jì)、制造、組裝iPads、iPhones及其它蘋(píng)果產(chǎn)品。這些人幾乎都不在美國(guó)工作，而是受雇于位于亞洲、歐洲及其它地區(qū)的外國(guó)公司，幾乎每一個(gè)的電子工程師都依靠這些廠家生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品。

“Apple’s an example of why it’s so hard to create middle-class jobs in the U.S. now. If it’s the pinnacle of capitalism, we should be worried. ” said Jared Bernstein, who until last year was an economic adviser to the White House.

直到去年一直擔(dān)任白宮經(jīng)濟(jì)顧問(wèn)的Jared Bernstein表示：＂為什么在美國(guó)創(chuàng)造中產(chǎn)階級(jí)職位這么難，蘋(píng)果就是一個(gè)例子。如果這就是資本主義的巔峰，我們應(yīng)當(dāng)擔(dān)憂。＂

Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight.

蘋(píng)果執(zhí)行官稱在目前，走向海外是他們唯一的出路。一位前執(zhí)行官描述了蘋(píng)果如何依靠一家中國(guó)公司在發(fā)售前僅僅數(shù)周對(duì)蘋(píng)果手機(jī)的生產(chǎn)進(jìn)行調(diào)整。蘋(píng)果在最后一分鐘改變了手機(jī)屏幕的設(shè)計(jì)，生產(chǎn)線被迫全面調(diào)整。新屏幕于深夜陸續(xù)運(yùn)抵廠房。

A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.

據(jù)這位前執(zhí)行官介紹，一位工頭立刻在公司宿舍內(nèi)喚醒八千名員工。每位員工派發(fā)一塊餅干和一杯茶，分別指派到各個(gè)工作崗位，不到半小時(shí)就開(kāi)始了給斜面框架安裝玻璃屏幕的長(zhǎng)達(dá)12個(gè)小時(shí)的班次。96小時(shí)之內(nèi)，這家工廠就以每日過(guò)萬(wàn)臺(tái)的速度生產(chǎn)手機(jī)。

“The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive said. “There’s no American plant that can match that.”

該執(zhí)行官稱：＂這個(gè)速度和靈活性令人目瞪口呆，沒(méi)有美國(guó)工廠可與之匹敵。＂

Similar stories could be told about almost any electronics company — and outsourcing has also become common in hundreds of industries, including accounting, legal services, banking, auto manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

幾乎所有的電子公司都有類似的故事，＂外包＂在數(shù)百個(gè)行業(yè)已司空見(jiàn)慣，其中包括會(huì)計(jì)、法律服務(wù)、金融、汽車(chē)制造和制藥。

But while Apple is far from alone, it offers a window into why the success of some prominent companies has not translated into large numbers of domestic jobs. What’s more, the company’s decisions pose broader questions about what corporate America owes Americans as the global and national economies are increasingly intertwined.

蘋(píng)果雖不孤單，但它提供了探究如下問(wèn)題的窗口：為什么一些優(yōu)勢(shì)企業(yè)的成功未能轉(zhuǎn)化成大量的國(guó)內(nèi)工作崗位？此外，蘋(píng)果的決策還提出了一些更廣的問(wèn)題，如在全球經(jīng)濟(jì)與國(guó)內(nèi)經(jīng)濟(jì)日益融合的今天，美國(guó)企業(yè)對(duì)美國(guó)人有什么責(zé)任？

“Companies once felt an obligation to support American workers, even when it wasn’t the best financial choice,” said Betsey Stevenson, the chief economist at the Labor Department until last September. “That’s disappeared. Profits and efficiency have trumped generosity.”

在去年九月前一直擔(dān)任勞工部首席經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家的Betsey Stevenson表示：＂公司過(guò)去感到有義務(wù)支持美國(guó)工人，即使這并非最佳經(jīng)濟(jì)選擇。這些已經(jīng)消失了，利潤(rùn)與效率擊敗了慷慨大方。＂

Companies and other economists say that notion is naïve. Though Americans are among the most educated workers in the world, the nation has stopped training enough people in the mid-level skills that factories need, executives say.

公司們及其他經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家認(rèn)為這一觀點(diǎn)太天真。執(zhí)行官們說(shuō)，盡管美國(guó)人是世界上受過(guò)最好教育的工人之一，但美國(guó)未能培訓(xùn)出足夠多的為工廠所需的擁有中等技能的人員。

To thrive, companies argue they need to move work where it can generate enough profits to keep paying for innovation. Doing otherwise risks losing even more American jobs over time, as evidenced by the legions of once-proud domestic manufacturers — including G.M. and others — that have shrunk as nimble competitors have emerged.

公司們稱，為了發(fā)展，它們必須將工作搬移到能夠創(chuàng)造出足夠利潤(rùn)以支付研發(fā)費(fèi)用的地區(qū)。若非如此則面臨著今后流失更多美國(guó)工作的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，這一點(diǎn)已被通用汽車(chē)等那些曾經(jīng)豪邁的國(guó)內(nèi)制造商所證實(shí)，隨著靈活競(jìng)爭(zhēng)者的崛起，這些老公司已經(jīng)收縮。

Apple was provided with extensive summaries of The New York Times’s reporting for this article, but the company, which has a reputation for secrecy, declined to comment.

紐約時(shí)報(bào)向蘋(píng)果提供了關(guān)于本篇報(bào)道的大量信息，但一如該公司的神秘名聲，蘋(píng)果未予置評(píng)。

This article is based on interviews with more than three dozen current and former Apple employees and contractors — many of whom requested anonymity to protect their jobs — as well as economists, manufacturing experts, international trade specialists, technology analysts, academic researchers, employees at Apple’s suppliers, competitors and corporate partners, and government officials.

本文基于對(duì)數(shù)十位蘋(píng)果現(xiàn)任或前任員工與承包商的采訪，許多受訪者要求對(duì)其身份進(jìn)行保密以求不危及他們的工作。紐約時(shí)報(bào)還采訪了經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家、制造業(yè)專家、國(guó)際貿(mào)易專業(yè)人士、技術(shù)分析家、學(xué)者、蘋(píng)果供應(yīng)商員工、競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手、公司伙伴及政府官員。

Privately, Apple executives say the world is now such a changed place that it is a mistake to measure a company’s contribution simply by tallying its employees — though they note that Apple employs more workers in the United States than ever before.

蘋(píng)果執(zhí)行官們私下稱世界變化如此之大，難以用員工人數(shù)來(lái)衡量企業(yè)的貢獻(xiàn)，盡管他們同時(shí)也指出蘋(píng)果在美雇員比過(guò)去任何時(shí)候都多。

They say Apple’s success has benefited the economy by empowering entrepreneurs and creating jobs at companies like cellular providers and businesses shipping Apple products. And, ultimately, they say curing unemployment is not their job.

他們認(rèn)為蘋(píng)果的成功通過(guò)如下方式造福經(jīng)濟(jì)：加強(qiáng)手機(jī)運(yùn)營(yíng)商和產(chǎn)品運(yùn)送公司，并在這些方面創(chuàng)造了就業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)。他們最終認(rèn)為，減少失業(yè)率不是他們的責(zé)任。

“We sell iPhones in over a hundred countries,” a current Apple executive said. “We don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible.”

蘋(píng)果一位現(xiàn)任執(zhí)行官稱：＂我們?cè)谝话俣鄠€(gè)國(guó)家銷售手機(jī)，我們沒(méi)有義務(wù)解決美國(guó)的問(wèn)題。我們唯一的責(zé)任就是生產(chǎn)出最好的產(chǎn)品。＂

‘I Want a Glass Screen’

＂我想要個(gè)玻璃屏幕＂

In 2007, a little over a month before the iPhone was scheduled to appear in stores, Mr. Jobs beckoned a handful of lieutenants into an office. For weeks, he had been carrying a prototype of the device in his pocket.

2007年，在蘋(píng)果手機(jī)正式發(fā)售前一個(gè)月多一點(diǎn)，喬布斯將數(shù)名副手召入辦公室。此前幾周，他一直隨身攜帶著一款蘋(píng)果手機(jī)原型。

Mr. Jobs angrily held up his iPhone, angling it so everyone could see the dozens of tiny scratches marring its plastic screen, according to someone who attended the meeting. He then pulled his keys from his jeans.

據(jù)當(dāng)時(shí)一位在場(chǎng)人講，喬布斯惱怒地舉起他的iPhone，不斷變動(dòng)角度讓所有的人看清塑料屏幕上的數(shù)十道小劃痕，接著，他從口袋里掏出一串鑰匙。

People will carry this phone in their pocket, he said. People also carry their keys in their pocket. “I won’t sell a product that gets scratched,” he said tensely. The only solution was using unscratchable glass instead. “I want a glass screen, and I want it perfect in six weeks.”

喬布斯說(shuō)，人們會(huì)把手機(jī)裝在他們的口袋里，他嚴(yán)肅地表示：＂我不會(huì)賣(mài)一只會(huì)劃花的產(chǎn)品。＂唯一的解決方案就是采用不會(huì)劃花的玻璃屏。喬布斯說(shuō)：＂我想要玻璃屏，在六個(gè)星期內(nèi)給我搞定。＂

After one executive left that meeting, he booked a flight to Shenzhen, China. If Mr. Jobs wanted perfect, there was nowhere else to go.

一位執(zhí)行官在離開(kāi)辦公室之后，訂了一張飛往中國(guó)深圳的機(jī)票。如果喬布斯想要完美，除了深圳無(wú)路可走。

For over two years, the company had been working on a project — code-named Purple 2 — that presented the same questions at every turn: how do you completely reimagine the cellphone? And how do you design it at the highest quality — with an unscratchable screen, for instance — while also ensuring that millions can be manufactured quickly and inexpensively enough to earn a significant profit?

在長(zhǎng)達(dá)兩年多的時(shí)間里，蘋(píng)果一直忙于一個(gè)代號(hào)為＂紫二＂的項(xiàng)目，每行一步都會(huì)碰到同樣的問(wèn)題：如何將手機(jī)的形象推倒重來(lái)？如何按照最高的質(zhì)量標(biāo)準(zhǔn)進(jìn)行設(shè)計(jì)——譬如不會(huì)劃花的屏幕——同時(shí)確保數(shù)百萬(wàn)臺(tái)手機(jī)能夠快速地、利潤(rùn)豐厚地制造出來(lái)？

The answers, almost every time, were found outside the United States. Though components differ between versions, all iPhones contain hundreds of parts, an estimated 90 percent of which are manufactured abroad. Advanced semiconductors have come from Germany and Taiwan, memory from Korea and Japan, display panels and circuitry from Korea and Taiwan, chipsets from Europe and rare metals from Africa and Asia. And all of it is put together in China.

幾乎毎一次，答案都在美國(guó)之外。盡管各個(gè)版本有所不同，但每臺(tái)iPhone都包含著數(shù)百個(gè)零部件，其中約90%以上產(chǎn)自海外。先進(jìn)的半導(dǎo)體來(lái)自德國(guó)和臺(tái)灣，內(nèi)存來(lái)自韓國(guó)和日本，顯示屏和電路板來(lái)自韓國(guó)和臺(tái)灣，芯片來(lái)自歐洲，原材料來(lái)自非洲和亞洲，然后在中國(guó)組裝。

In its early days, Apple usually didn’t look beyond its own backyard for manufacturing solutions. A few years after Apple began building the Macintosh in 1983, for instance, Mr. Jobs bragged that it was “a machine that is made in America.” In 1990, while Mr. Jobs was running NeXT, which was eventually bought by Apple, the executive told a reporter that “I’m as proud of the factory as I am of the computer.” As late as 2002, top Apple executives occasionally drove two hours northeast of their headquarters to visit the company’s iMac plant in Elk Grove, Calif.

早年間，蘋(píng)果經(jīng)常只在后院尋求制造解決方案。1983年，蘋(píng)果機(jī)開(kāi)始投產(chǎn)，喬布斯自豪地宣稱＂這是一部產(chǎn)于美國(guó)的機(jī)器＂。1990年，喬布斯執(zhí)掌NeXT電腦公司（后被蘋(píng)果收購(gòu)）他告訴一名記者：＂就我為這臺(tái)電腦感到驕傲那樣，我為這家工廠感到驕傲。＂直到2002年，蘋(píng)果高層還不時(shí)從總部往東北驅(qū)車(chē)兩小時(shí)視察公司位于加州Elk Grove的iMac生產(chǎn)基地。

But by 2004, Apple had largely turned to foreign manufacturing. Guiding that decision was Apple’s operations expert, Timothy D. Cook, who replaced Mr. Jobs as chief executive last August, six weeks before Mr. Jobs’s death. Most other American electronics companies had already gone abroad, and Apple, which at the time was struggling, felt it had to grasp every advantage.

到了2004年，蘋(píng)果已基本上轉(zhuǎn)向海外工廠。這一決定的倡導(dǎo)者是蘋(píng)果運(yùn)營(yíng)專家Timothy D. Cook，他在喬布斯去世前六個(gè)星期，即去年八月接替喬布斯成為蘋(píng)果首席執(zhí)行官。大多數(shù)美國(guó)電子公司早已移師海外，在當(dāng)時(shí)處于困境之中的蘋(píng)果感到它必須抓住任何一點(diǎn)優(yōu)勢(shì)。

In part, Asia was attractive because the semiskilled workers there were cheaper. But that wasn’t driving Apple. For technology companies, the cost of labor is minimal compared with the expense of buying parts and managing supply chains that bring together components and services from hundreds of companies.

亞洲的吸引力部分地在于廉價(jià)的半熟練工人。但蘋(píng)果并不看重這一點(diǎn)，作為科技公司，勞工成本在購(gòu)買(mǎi)零部件、整合來(lái)自數(shù)百個(gè)公司的零部件與服務(wù)的＂供應(yīng)鏈管理＂等開(kāi)銷面前顯得微不足道。

For Mr. Cook, the focus on Asia “came down to two things,” said one former high-ranking Apple executive. Factories in Asia “can scale up and down faster” and “Asian supply chains have surpassed what’s in the U.S.” The result is that “we can’t compete at this point,” the executive said.

據(jù)一名蘋(píng)果前任高管稱，對(duì)于Cook先生來(lái)說(shuō)，聚焦亞洲歸根結(jié)底在于兩點(diǎn)：第一，亞洲工廠可以＂快速擴(kuò)張或縮編＂；第二，＂亞洲供應(yīng)鏈超過(guò)了美國(guó)＂。結(jié)果就是＂我們現(xiàn)在無(wú)法競(jìng)爭(zhēng)＂。

The impact of such advantages became obvious as soon as Mr. Jobs demanded glass screens in 2007.

這一優(yōu)勢(shì)的影響力在07年喬布斯要求玻璃屏?xí)r立即顯現(xiàn)。

For years, cellphone makers had avoided using glass because it required precision in cutting and grinding that was extremely difficult to achieve. Apple had already selected an American company, Corning Inc., to manufacture large panes of strengthened glass. But figuring out how to cut those panes into millions of iPhone screens required finding an empty cutting plant, hundreds of pieces of glass to use in experiments and an army of midlevel engineers. It would cost a fortune simply to prepare.

許多年來(lái)，手機(jī)制造商們盡量避免使用玻璃屏，因?yàn)樗缶_切割和打磨，非常難以實(shí)現(xiàn)。蘋(píng)果已選用美國(guó)公司Corning來(lái)生產(chǎn)大幅強(qiáng)化玻璃板。但要將這些玻璃板切割成數(shù)百萬(wàn)片手機(jī)屏幕，需要找一家空置的切割工廠、數(shù)百片用于試驗(yàn)的玻璃及一支中等水平的工程師大軍。光是準(zhǔn)備工作就要花費(fèi)巨資。

Then a bid for the work arrived from a Chinese factory.

此時(shí)，中國(guó)一家工廠前來(lái)投標(biāo)。

When an Apple team visited, the Chinese plant’s owners were already constructing a new wing. “This is in case you give us the contract,” the manager said, according to a former Apple executive. 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.

當(dāng)一支蘋(píng)果團(tuán)隊(duì)前來(lái)考察時(shí)，這家中國(guó)工廠的股東們已經(jīng)在建設(shè)新的廠房。據(jù)一名前蘋(píng)果執(zhí)行官稱，中國(guó)經(jīng)理解釋道：＂這是為了萬(wàn)一蘋(píng)果給我們訂單。＂中國(guó)政府已同意為多項(xiàng)產(chǎn)業(yè)提供成本補(bǔ)貼，這些補(bǔ)貼層層下?lián)苤吝@家玻璃切割廠。向蘋(píng)果免費(fèi)提供的玻璃樣品堆滿了一個(gè)倉(cāng)庫(kù)，甚至連工程師都幾乎是免費(fèi)服務(wù)。廠內(nèi)建有宿舍，職工24小時(shí)待命。

The Chinese plant got the job.

中國(guó)工廠贏得了訂單。

“The entire supply chain is in China now,” said another former high-ranking Apple executive. “You need a thousand rubber gaskets? That’s the factory next door. You need a million screws? That factory is a block away. You need that screw made a little bit different? It will take three hours.”

另一名前蘋(píng)果高管表示：＂現(xiàn)在所有的供應(yīng)鏈都在中國(guó)了，需要一千片橡膠襯墊？隔壁工廠就有。需要一百萬(wàn)枚螺絲釘？下一個(gè)街區(qū)就一家廠。想對(duì)螺釘做些改動(dòng)？三個(gè)小時(shí)搞定。＂

In Foxconn City

富士康城內(nèi)

An eight-hour drive from that glass factory is a complex, known informally as Foxconn City, where the iPhone is assembled. To Apple executives, Foxconn City was further evidence that China could deliver workers — and diligence — that outpaced their American counterparts.

離玻璃廠八小時(shí)車(chē)程的地方是被稱為＂富士康城＂的鎮(zhèn)落，蘋(píng)果手機(jī)在此生產(chǎn)。對(duì)于蘋(píng)果老總們來(lái)說(shuō)，富士康是中國(guó)比美國(guó)更勤快、能提供更多勞工的進(jìn)一步證明。

That’s because nothing like Foxconn City exists in the United States.

這是因?yàn)槊绹?guó)根本沒(méi)有富士康城這樣的東西。

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. When one Apple executive arrived during a shift change, his car was stuck in a river of employees streaming past. “The scale is unimaginable,” he said.

畗士康城內(nèi)擁有23萬(wàn)員工，許多人一周上六天班，每天12小時(shí)。超過(guò)四分之一的員工住在公司宿舍，許多人一天所獲不足17美元。一位蘋(píng)果執(zhí)行官到達(dá)富士康時(shí)正逢換班，他的車(chē)被堵在人流中，他說(shuō)：＂難以想象的規(guī)模。＂

Foxconn employs nearly 300 guards to direct foot traffic so workers are not crushed in doorway bottlenecks. The facility’s central kitchen cooks an average of three tons of pork and 13 tons of rice a day. While factories are spotless, the air inside nearby teahouses is hazy with the smoke and stench of cigarettes.

富士康雇傭近300名保安指揮來(lái)往人流，以避免在樓道擁擠所發(fā)生擠踏。城內(nèi)的中心廚房日均消耗三噸豬肉、十三噸大米。城內(nèi)雖然整潔無(wú)睱，但附近茶館烏煙瘴氣，煙草味道直沖腦門(mén)。

Foxconn Technology has dozens of facilities in Asia and Eastern Europe, and in Mexico and Brazil, and it assembles an estimated 40 percent of the world’s consumer electronics for customers like Amazon, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Nintendo, Nokia, Samsung and Sony.

富士康在亞洲、東歐、墨西哥和巴西設(shè)有數(shù)十家工廠，組裝全球百分之四十的電子產(chǎn)品，客戶包括亞馬遜、戴爾、惠普、摩托羅拉、任天堂、尼康、三星和索尼。

“They could hire 3,000 people overnight,” said Jennifer Rigoni, who was Apple’s worldwide supply demand manager until 2010, but declined to discuss specifics of her work. “What U.S. plant can find 3,000 people overnight and convince them to live in dorms?”

直到2010年一直擔(dān)任蘋(píng)果全球供應(yīng)經(jīng)理的Jennifer Rigoni稱：＂他們可在一夜之間招聘三千人，美國(guó)有哪家工廠可以一夜招三千員工并說(shuō)服他們搬進(jìn)宿舍？＂

In mid-2007, after a month of experimentation, Apple’s engineers finally perfected a method for cutting strengthened glass so it could be used in the iPhone’s screen. The first truckloads of cut glass arrived at Foxconn City in the dead of night, according to the former Apple executive. That’s when managers woke thousands of workers, who crawled into their uniforms — white and black shirts for men, red for women — and quickly lined up to assemble, by hand, the phones. Within three months, Apple had sold one million iPhones. Since then, Foxconn has assembled over 200 million more.

2007年中，經(jīng)過(guò)一個(gè)月的試驗(yàn)，蘋(píng)果工程師們終于完善了為手機(jī)屏幕切割強(qiáng)化玻璃的工藝。據(jù)前蘋(píng)果執(zhí)行官稱數(shù)車(chē)首批玻璃片于深夜運(yùn)抵富士康，經(jīng)理們喚醒數(shù)千員工，他們爬入公司制服——男的黑白襯衫、女的紅襯衫——然后迅速手工組裝手機(jī)。在三個(gè)月之內(nèi)，蘋(píng)果已售出一百萬(wàn)臺(tái)手機(jī)。自那以后，富士康另組裝了超過(guò)二億部。

Foxconn, in statements, declined to speak about specific clients.

富士康在聲明中拒絕對(duì)具體客戶進(jìn)行評(píng)論。

“Any worker recruited by our firm is covered by a clear contract outlining terms and conditions and by Chinese government law that protects their rights,” the company wrote. Foxconn “takes our responsibility to our employees very seriously and we work hard to give our more than one million employees a safe and positive environment.”

富士康在書(shū)面聲明中稱：＂所有受雇于本公司的員工均簽有列明工作條款與條件的勞動(dòng)合同，并受中國(guó)法律保護(hù)。富士康高度重視公司對(duì)員工的責(zé)任，我們努力為百萬(wàn)余名員工創(chuàng)造一個(gè)安全與積極的工作環(huán)境。＂

The company disputed some details of the former Apple executive’s account, and wrote that a midnight shift, such as the one described, was impossible “because we have strict regulations regarding the working hours of our employees based on their designated shifts, and every employee has computerized timecards that would bar them from working at any facility at a time outside of their approved shift.” The company said that all shifts began at either 7 a.m. or 7 p.m., and that employees receive at least 12 hours’ notice of any schedule changes.

富士康否認(rèn)前蘋(píng)果執(zhí)行官的某些描述，書(shū)面指出上文提到的半夜倒班不可能發(fā)生，因?yàn)椋⑽覀儗?duì)員工的工作時(shí)間有著嚴(yán)格的管理，每個(gè)員工都有固定的班次并執(zhí)有一張電腦卡，非正常上班時(shí)段不得進(jìn)入廠區(qū)。＂富士康還稱所有的班次均在上午七點(diǎn)或下午七點(diǎn)開(kāi)始，若有班次調(diào)整，員工應(yīng)在12小時(shí)前得到通知。

Foxconn employees, in interviews, have challenged those assertions.

富士康員工在采訪中質(zhì)疑公司的說(shuō)法。

Another critical advantage for Apple was that China provided engineers at a scale the United States could not match. Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States.

對(duì)于蘋(píng)果來(lái)說(shuō)，中國(guó)的另一個(gè)重大優(yōu)勢(shì)是它能夠以美國(guó)不可企及的規(guī)模大量供應(yīng)工程師。蘋(píng)果執(zhí)行官們估計(jì)生產(chǎn)iPhone大約需要8700名產(chǎn)業(yè)工程師來(lái)監(jiān)管與指導(dǎo)組裝線上的二十萬(wàn)工人。蘋(píng)果分析師們預(yù)計(jì)在美國(guó)找到這么多合格工程師約需9個(gè)月。

In China, it took 15 days.

而在中國(guó)，蘋(píng)果只花了15天。

Companies like Apple “say the challenge in setting up U.S. plants is finding a technical work force,” said Martin Schmidt, associate provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In particular, companies say they need engineers with more than high school, but not necessarily a bachelor’s degree. Americans at that skill level are hard to find, executives contend. “They’re good jobs, but the country doesn’t have enough to feed the demand,” Mr. Schmidt said.

麻省理工副校長(zhǎng)Martin Schmidt認(rèn)為：＂蘋(píng)果一類的公司稱在美國(guó)開(kāi)設(shè)工廠所遇到的挑戰(zhàn)是難以找到技術(shù)性勞力大軍。＂這些公司需要介于高中學(xué)歷和學(xué)士學(xué)位之間的工程師，處在這個(gè)技術(shù)水平的美國(guó)人很少。Schmidt說(shuō)：＂這些是好工作，但美國(guó)沒(méi)有足夠的人手。＂

Some aspects of the iPhone are uniquely American. The device’s software, for instance, and its innovative marketing campaigns were largely created in the United States. Apple recently built a $500 million data center in North Carolina. Crucial semiconductors inside the iPhone 4 and 4S are manufactured in an Austin, Tex., factory by Samsung, of South Korea.

蘋(píng)果手機(jī)的一些方面是美國(guó)獨(dú)有的。比如說(shuō)手機(jī)軟件、創(chuàng)新性的巿場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷等。蘋(píng)果最近在北卡羅來(lái)納州修建了價(jià)值5億美元的數(shù)據(jù)中心。iPhone4和4S內(nèi)關(guān)鍵性的半導(dǎo)體產(chǎn)自位于德州奧斯汀的一家韓國(guó)三星廠。

But even those facilities are not enormous sources of jobs. Apple’s North Carolina center, for instance, has only 100 full-time employees. The Samsung plant has an estimated 2,400 workers.

但這些基地并不是大規(guī)模的就業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)來(lái)源。比方說(shuō)蘋(píng)果數(shù)據(jù)中心僅雇傭了一百名全職員工。三星工廠約有二千四百名工人。

“If you scale up from selling one million phones to 30 million phones, you don’t really need more programmers,” said Jean-Louis Gassée, who oversaw product development and marketing for Apple until he left in 1990. “All these new companies — Facebook, Google, Twitter — benefit from this. They grow, but they don’t really need to hire much.”

在1990年前主管蘋(píng)果產(chǎn)品開(kāi)發(fā)與巿場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷的Jean-Louis Gassée表示：＂如果你將手機(jī)產(chǎn)量從一百萬(wàn)臺(tái)提高到三千萬(wàn)臺(tái)，你真的不需要增加程度員。臉譜、谷歌、推特等新公司因此獲利，它們?cè)诔砷L(zhǎng)，但又不用招新人。＂

It is hard to estimate how much more it would cost to build iPhones in the United States. However, various academics and manufacturing analysts estimate that because labor is such a small part of technology manufacturing, paying American wages would add up to $65 to each iPhone’s expense. Since Apple’s profits are often hundreds of dollars per phone, building domestically, in theory, would still give the company a healthy reward.

很難說(shuō)在美國(guó)生產(chǎn)蘋(píng)果手機(jī)會(huì)增加多少成本。但多個(gè)學(xué)者和制造業(yè)分析師估計(jì)，由于人工在科技制造業(yè)中所占成本比例極低，以美國(guó)工資標(biāo)準(zhǔn)估算的話，每個(gè)iPhone至多增加65美元成本。因?yàn)樘O(píng)果在每臺(tái)手機(jī)上的盈利達(dá)數(shù)百美元，所以在理論上講，蘋(píng)果如果在本土生產(chǎn)手機(jī)依然會(huì)獲利頗豐。

But such calculations are, in many respects, meaningless because building the iPhone in the United States would demand much more than hiring Americans — it would require transforming the national and global economies. Apple executives believe there simply aren’t enough American workers with the skills the company needs or factories with sufficient speed and flexibility. Other companies that work with Apple, like Corning, also say they must go abroad.

但在很多方面，這樣的估算毫無(wú)意義，因?yàn)樵诿绹?guó)生產(chǎn)蘋(píng)果手機(jī)不僅僅需要美國(guó)員工，更要對(duì)全國(guó)、全球經(jīng)濟(jì)進(jìn)行改造。蘋(píng)果執(zhí)行官們相信美國(guó)根本無(wú)法提供足夠多的擁有蘋(píng)果所需技能的工人，也沒(méi)有足夠快速高效的工廠。其它與蘋(píng)果合作的工廠，如Corning也說(shuō)他們必須走向海外。

Manufacturing glass for the iPhone revived a Corning factory in Kentucky, and today, much of the glass in iPhones is still made there. After the iPhone became a success, Corning received a flood of orders from other companies hoping to imitate Apple’s designs. Its strengthened glass sales have grown to more than $700 million a year, and it has hired or continued employing about 1,000 Americans to support the emerging market.

為iPhone生產(chǎn)玻璃片重振了Corning位于肯塔基州的一家工廠，iPhone所需的大部分玻璃仍產(chǎn)自該廠。iPhone獲得成功之后，想模仿蘋(píng)果的廠商紛紛向Corning發(fā)出訂單。Corning的強(qiáng)化玻璃銷售額增至每年七億美元，該廠雇有一千名美國(guó)員工以支撐這一上升中的市場(chǎng)。

But as that market has expanded, the bulk of Corning’s strengthened glass manufacturing has occurred at plants in Japan and Taiwan.

但隨著市場(chǎng)的擴(kuò)張，Corning的玻璃片很大一部分開(kāi)始在日本和臺(tái)灣生產(chǎn)。

“Our customers are in Taiwan, Korea, Japan and China,” said James B. Flaws, Corning’s vice chairman and chief financial officer. “We could make the glass here, and then ship it by boat, but that takes 35 days. Or, we could ship it by air, but that’s 10 times as expensive. So we build our glass factories next door to assembly factories, and those are overseas.”

Corning副總及首席財(cái)務(wù)官James B. Flaws表示：＂我們的客戶位于臺(tái)灣、韓國(guó)、日本和中國(guó)。我們可以在美國(guó)生產(chǎn)玻璃片再用船運(yùn)過(guò)去，但需要35天，如空運(yùn)則要花十倍的運(yùn)費(fèi)。因此我們?cè)诳蛻舻母舯陂_(kāi)廠，這些都位于海外。＂

Corning was founded in America 161 years ago and its headquarters are still in upstate New York. Theoretically, the company could manufacture all its glass domestically. But it would “require a total overhaul in how the industry is structured,” Mr. Flaws said. “The consumer electronics business has become an Asian business. As an American, I worry about that, but there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Asia has become what the U.S. was for the last 40 years.”

Corning于161年前成立于美國(guó)，其總部仍位于紐約州北部。理論上講，Corning可以在國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)所有的玻璃，但Flaws先生稱：＂這需要重構(gòu)整個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)，消費(fèi)電子產(chǎn)業(yè)已成為亞洲產(chǎn)業(yè)，作為一個(gè)美國(guó)人我很擔(dān)心，但我無(wú)能為力，亞洲已成為在過(guò)去40年的美國(guó)。＂

Middle-Class Jobs Fade

中產(chǎn)階級(jí)工作消失

The first time Eric Saragoza stepped into Apple’s manufacturing plant in Elk Grove, Calif., he felt as if he were entering an engineering wonderland.

當(dāng)Eric Saragoza首次步入蘋(píng)果位于加州Elk Grove的生產(chǎn)基地時(shí)，他感覺(jué)像是邁進(jìn)了工程師樂(lè)園。

It was 1995, and the facility near Sacramento employed more than 1,500 workers. It was a kaleidoscope of robotic arms, conveyor belts ferrying circuit boards and, eventually, candy-colored iMacs in various stages of assembly. Mr. Saragoza, an engineer, quickly moved up the plant’s ranks and joined an elite diagnostic team. His salary climbed to $50,000. He and his wife had three children. They bought a home with a pool.

時(shí)為1995年，這一位于Sacramento附近的生產(chǎn)基地共雇傭1500多名員工，簡(jiǎn)直是機(jī)器臂的萬(wàn)花筒，傳送帶運(yùn)送著電路板以及更個(gè)完工程度的花花綠綠的iMac。工程師Saragoza很快就在該廠得到晉升并加入了處理疑難雜癥的精英團(tuán)隊(duì)。他的年薪提到了五萬(wàn)美元，他有老婆和三個(gè)小孩，他們買(mǎi)了帶泳池的房子。

“It felt like, finally, school was paying off,” he said. “I knew the world needed people who can build things.”

Saragoza說(shuō)：＂當(dāng)時(shí)感覺(jué)這么多年的學(xué)沒(méi)有白上，世上總需要能夠建造東西的人。＂

At the same time, however, the electronics industry was changing, and Apple — with products that were declining in popularity — was struggling to remake itself. One focus was improving manufacturing. A few years after Mr. Saragoza started his job, his bosses explained how the California plant stacked up against overseas factories: the cost, excluding the materials, of building a $1,500 computer in Elk Grove was $22 a machine. In Singapore, it was $6. In Taiwan, $4.85. Wages weren’t the major reason for the disparities. Rather it was costs like inventory and how long it took workers to finish a task.

但電子產(chǎn)業(yè)發(fā)生了變化，蘋(píng)果產(chǎn)品失勢(shì)，公司舉步維艱。當(dāng)時(shí)的焦點(diǎn)之一就是改進(jìn)制造過(guò)程。Saragoza先生工作幾年之后，他的老板們跟他解釋加州廠與海外工廠的對(duì)比：在加州制造一臺(tái)售價(jià)1500美元的電腦，除了材料之外的成本為22美元，在新加坡6美元，在臺(tái)灣4.85美元。工資不是這些差距的主要原因，占大頭的是倉(cāng)儲(chǔ)備料與完工速度等。

“We were told we would have to do 12-hour days, and come in on Saturdays,” Mr. Saragoza said. “I had a family. I wanted to see my kids play soccer.”

Saragoza說(shuō)：＂我們被告之一天上12小時(shí)班，周六也得加班。我已成家，我想看我的小孩踢足球。＂

Modernization has always caused some kinds of jobs to change or disappear. As the American economy transitioned from agriculture to manufacturing and then to other industries, farmers became steelworkers, and then salesmen and middle managers. These shifts have carried many economic benefits, and in general, with each progression, even unskilled workers received better wages and greater chances at upward mobility.

現(xiàn)代化總是導(dǎo)致一些工作變化或消失。當(dāng)美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)從農(nóng)耕到制造業(yè)再到其它產(chǎn)業(yè)轉(zhuǎn)移時(shí)，農(nóng)民變成鋼鐵工人，再到銷售和中層管理。這些變動(dòng)帶來(lái)了很多經(jīng)濟(jì)利益，總體而言，在毎次變動(dòng)中，即使是不熟練的工人也可獲得更好的報(bào)酬和更多向上攀登的機(jī)會(huì)。

But in the last two decades, something more fundamental has changed, economists say. Midwage jobs started disappearing. Particularly among Americans without college degrees, today’s new jobs are disproportionately in service occupations — at restaurants or call centers, or as hospital attendants or temporary workers — that offer fewer opportunities for reaching the middle class.

但據(jù)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家介紹，過(guò)去二十年發(fā)生了一些根本性的變化。中等收入水平的工作開(kāi)始消失。尤其是那些沒(méi)有大學(xué)學(xué)位的美國(guó)人，如今的新工作不成比例地集中在服務(wù)行業(yè)，如餐館、接線員、醫(yī)護(hù)或臨時(shí)工，這些職業(yè)很難讓人步入中產(chǎn)階級(jí)。

Even Mr. Saragoza, with his college degree, was vulnerable to these trends. First, some of Elk Grove’s routine tasks were sent overseas. Mr. Saragoza didn’t mind. Then the robotics that made Apple a futuristic playground allowed executives to replace workers with machines. Some diagnostic engineering went to Singapore. Middle managers who oversaw the plant’s inventory were laid off because, suddenly, a few people with Internet connections were all that were needed.

就算是擁有大學(xué)學(xué)位的Saragoza先生也受到這些趨勢(shì)的威脅。首先，Elk Grove基地的一些日常任務(wù)被發(fā)往海外，Saragoza不以為然。接著那些取代工人的讓蘋(píng)果成為未來(lái)樂(lè)園的機(jī)器人也送到海外，一些診斷專家也遠(yuǎn)赴新加坡。曾經(jīng)掌管倉(cāng)儲(chǔ)的中層經(jīng)理下崗，因?yàn)橐灰怪g，幾個(gè)能上網(wǎng)的人就夠用了。

Mr. Saragoza was too expensive for an unskilled position. He was also insufficiently credentialed for upper management. He was called into a small office in 2002 after a night shift, laid off and then escorted from the plant. He taught high school for a while, and then tried a return to technology. But Apple, which had helped anoint the region as “Silicon Valley North,” had by then converted much of the Elk Grove plant into an AppleCare call center, where new employees often earn $12 an hour.

對(duì)于低技能職位來(lái)說(shuō)，Saragoza太昂貴了，但他的資歷又不足以進(jìn)入上層管理。2002年，Saragoza剛下夜班就被叫入一間小辦公室，被告之下崗并護(hù)送出廠。他在高中教了一段時(shí)間的書(shū)，然后又想回到lT業(yè)。但曾經(jīng)參與將該地區(qū)打造成＂硅谷＂的蘋(píng)果已經(jīng)把Elk Grove基地的大部分改造成售后服務(wù)電話中心，新招接線員時(shí)薪12美元。

There were employment prospects in Silicon Valley, but none of them panned out. “What they really want are 30-year-olds without children,” said Mr. Saragoza, who today is 48, and whose family now includes five of his own.

在硅谷里也有些工作機(jī)會(huì)，但最終均未成功，現(xiàn)年48歲的Saragoza說(shuō)：＂他們真正想要的是那些30多歲而且沒(méi)有小孩的。＂Saragoza家里有五個(gè)小孩。

After a few months of looking for work, he started feeling desperate. Even teaching jobs had dried up. So he took a position with an electronics temp agency that had been hired by Apple to check returned iPhones and iPads before they were sent back to customers. Every day, Mr. Saragoza would drive to the building where he had once worked as an engineer, and for $10 an hour with no benefits, wipe thousands of glass screens and test audio ports by plugging in headphones.

在找了幾個(gè)月工作之后，Saragoza開(kāi)始慌了，連教書(shū)的工作也消失了。后來(lái)他在一家臨時(shí)工中介那找到一份工，專為蘋(píng)果修理用戶退回的iPhones和iPads。每一天，Saragoza開(kāi)車(chē)到幾年前曾經(jīng)擔(dān)任工程師的地方，為了每小時(shí)十塊錢(qián)（無(wú)福利）的工錢(qián)，擦拭數(shù)千個(gè)玻璃屏，不停地摘插耳機(jī)以檢測(cè)聲音接口。

Paydays for Apple

蘋(píng)果發(fā)財(cái)之日

As Apple’s overseas operations and sales have expanded, its top employees have thrived. Last fiscal year, Apple’s revenue topped $108 billion, a sum larger than the combined state budgets of Michigan, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Since 2005, when the company’s stock split, share prices have risen from about $45 to more than $427.

隨著蘋(píng)果海外運(yùn)作和銷售的擴(kuò)張，高層雇員的日子越發(fā)滋潤(rùn)。上個(gè)財(cái)政年度，蘋(píng)果銷售額超過(guò)1080億美元，比密歇根、新澤西、麻省三州的預(yù)算之和還高。自公司2005年拆股以來(lái)，蘋(píng)果股價(jià)從45美元飆升至427美元。

Some of that wealth has gone to shareholders. Apple is among the most widely held stocks, and the rising share price has benefited millions of individual investors, 401(k)’s and pension plans. The bounty has also enriched Apple workers. Last fiscal year, in addition to their salaries, Apple’s employees and directors received stock worth $2 billion and exercised or vested stock and options worth an added $1.4 billion.

這些財(cái)富的一部分流入了股東的腰包。蘋(píng)果是世界上最為廣泛持有的股票，不斷攀升的股價(jià)讓數(shù)百萬(wàn)個(gè)人股東、養(yǎng)老基金、退休基金獲利。收益也肥了蘋(píng)果員工。在上個(gè)財(cái)年，蘋(píng)果員工和董事除工資外還獲得了價(jià)值20億美元的股票，另外行使價(jià)值14億美元股票期權(quán)。

The biggest rewards, however, have often gone to Apple’s top employees. Mr. Cook, Apple’s chief, last year received stock grants — which vest over a 10-year period — that, at today’s share price, would be worth $427 million, and his salary was raised to $1.4 million. In 2010, Mr. Cook’s compensation package was valued at $59 million, according to Apple’s security filings.

最大的回報(bào)則落入蘋(píng)果最高層的囊中，比如蘋(píng)果老總Cook先生去年獲得的股票期權(quán)（十年期）以今天的股價(jià)計(jì)高達(dá)4億2千7百萬(wàn)美元，工資則提高到一百四十萬(wàn)美元。據(jù)蘋(píng)果的證券資料，Cook先生去年的補(bǔ)償計(jì)劃高達(dá)5千9百萬(wàn)美元。

A person close to Apple argued that the compensation received by Apple’s employees was fair, in part because the company had brought so much value to the nation and world. As the company has grown, it has expanded its domestic work force, including manufacturing jobs. Last year, Apple’s American work force grew by 8,000 people.

一位接近蘋(píng)果的人士認(rèn)為蘋(píng)果員工所獲補(bǔ)償是公平的，部分地由于蘋(píng)果給美國(guó)和整個(gè)世界創(chuàng)造了大量財(cái)富。隨著蘋(píng)果成長(zhǎng)，它擴(kuò)展了國(guó)內(nèi)就業(yè)，包括制造業(yè)工作。去年，蘋(píng)果的美國(guó)雇員增長(zhǎng)了八千人。

While other companies have sent call centers abroad, Apple has kept its centers in the United States. One source estimated that sales of Apple’s products have caused other companies to hire tens of thousands of Americans. FedEx and United Parcel Service, for instance, both say they have created American jobs because of the volume of Apple’s shipments, though neither would provide specific figures without permission from Apple, which the company declined to provide.

當(dāng)其它公司將電話中心移到海外，蘋(píng)果仍然將其電話中心保留在國(guó)內(nèi)。一名消息人士估計(jì)蘋(píng)果的銷售讓其它公司得以擴(kuò)招數(shù)以萬(wàn)計(jì)的美國(guó)員工。比方說(shuō)，聯(lián)盟快遞和UPS等均表示，因?yàn)樘O(píng)果的貨流量公司在美國(guó)招新。至于具體數(shù)字由于沒(méi)有蘋(píng)果授權(quán)不便透露。

“We shouldn’t be criticized for using Chinese workers,” a current Apple executive said. “The U.S. has stopped producing people with the skills we need.”

一位現(xiàn)任蘋(píng)果執(zhí)行官表示：＂不要怪我們使用中國(guó)工人，美國(guó)已停止供應(yīng)我們所需的員工。＂

What’s more, Apple sources say the company has created plenty of good American jobs inside its retail stores and among entrepreneurs selling iPhone and iPad applications.

此外，蘋(píng)果消息來(lái)源還稱蘋(píng)果產(chǎn)品為零售店和應(yīng)用軟件廠商創(chuàng)造了不少好工作。

After two months of testing iPads, Mr. Saragoza quit. The pay was so low that he was better off, he figured, spending those hours applying for other jobs. On a recent October evening, while Mr. Saragoza sat at his MacBook and submitted another round of résumés online, halfway around the world a woman arrived at her office. The worker, Lina Lin, is a project manager in Shenzhen, China, at PCH International, which contracts with Apple and other electronics companies to coordinate production of accessories, like the cases that protect the iPad’s glass screens. She is not an Apple employee. But Mrs. Lin is integral to Apple’s ability to deliver its products.

在檢測(cè)iPad兩個(gè)月之后，Saragoza辭職了，工資實(shí)在太低，還不如花點(diǎn)時(shí)間找其它工作。十月的一個(gè)夜晚，Saragoza用他的蘋(píng)果電腦在網(wǎng)上發(fā)簡(jiǎn)歷，地球的另一邊，一名女子正步入她的辦公室。林女士是中國(guó)深圳一家蘋(píng)果配件生產(chǎn)管理商的項(xiàng)目經(jīng)理。她不是蘋(píng)果雇員，但她對(duì)蘋(píng)果的供貨能力起到不可或缺的作用。

Mrs. Lin earns a bit less than what Mr. Saragoza was paid by Apple. She speaks fluent English, learned from watching television and in a Chinese university. She and her husband put a quarter of their salaries in the bank every month. They live in a 1,080-square-foot apartment, which they share with their in-laws and son.

林女士的薪水比Saragoza原先在蘋(píng)果的工資稍低，她能說(shuō)流利的英語(yǔ)，在中國(guó)一家大學(xué)學(xué)的再加上看電視。她和她的丈夫毎月將工資的四分之一存銀行，帶上兒子及親友住在一個(gè)面積一百平米的公寓。

“There are lots of jobs,” Mrs. Lin said. “Especially in Shenzhen.”

林女士說(shuō)：＂工作很多，尤其在深圳。＂

Innovation’s Losers

創(chuàng)新中的失敗者

Toward the end of Mr. Obama’s dinner last year with Mr. Jobs and other Silicon Valley executives, as everyone stood to leave, a crowd of photo seekers formed around the president. A slightly smaller scrum gathered around Mr. Jobs. Rumors had spread that his illness had worsened, and some hoped for a photograph with him, perhaps for the last time.

和奧巴馬的晩餐接近尾聲，人們開(kāi)始起身離場(chǎng)，一群人擠在總統(tǒng)身邊要求合影。而稍少的一群人圍在喬布斯身旁，關(guān)于他病重的傳言四起，一些人希望能與他合影，也許這是最后一次。

Eventually, the orbits of the men overlapped. “I’m not worried about the country’s long-term future,” Mr. Jobs told Mr. Obama, according to one observer. “This country is insanely great. What I’m worried about is that we don’t talk enough about solutions.”

最終，兩群人交織在一起。喬布斯對(duì)奧巴馬說(shuō)：＂我不擔(dān)心美國(guó)的長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)未來(lái)，這個(gè)國(guó)家極其偉大。我所擔(dān)心的是我們對(duì)解決方案討論不足。＂

At dinner, for instance, the executives had suggested that the government should reform visa programs to help companies hire foreign engineers. Some had urged the president to give companies a “tax holiday” so they could bring back overseas profits which, they argued, would be used to create work. Mr. Jobs even suggested it might be possible, someday, to locate some of Apple’s skilled manufacturing in the United States if the government helped train more American engineers.

在宴會(huì)上，一些執(zhí)行官建議總統(tǒng)改革簽證系統(tǒng)，讓公司更方便地雇傭外國(guó)工程師。有些促請(qǐng)總統(tǒng)給予公司們一個(gè)＂稅收假日＂，讓它們能夠收回海外利潤(rùn)以創(chuàng)造本土工作。喬布斯甚至暗示如果政府幫助培養(yǎng)美國(guó)工程師，蘋(píng)果有可能將部分精加工搬回美國(guó)。

Economists debate the usefulness of those and other efforts, and note that a struggling economy is sometimes transformed by unexpected developments. The last time analysts wrung their hands about prolonged American unemployment, for instance, in the early 1980s, the Internet hardly existed. Few at the time would have guessed that a degree in graphic design was rapidly becoming a smart bet, while studying telephone repair a dead end.

經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家們對(duì)這些及其它措施的用處進(jìn)行了辯論，并提出掙扎中的經(jīng)濟(jì)有時(shí)會(huì)因意料之外的事件而發(fā)生改變。比方說(shuō)，上一回分析師們?yōu)槊绹?guó)失業(yè)率長(zhǎng)期高居不下而糾心時(shí)是在上世紀(jì)八十年代初，當(dāng)時(shí)因特網(wǎng)幾乎還不存在。當(dāng)時(shí)的人們少有能想見(jiàn)學(xué)習(xí)圖像設(shè)計(jì)會(huì)吃香而修理電話行將走向末路。

What remains unknown, however, is whether the United States will be able to leverage tomorrow’s innovations into millions of jobs.

然而尚不清楚美國(guó)是否能將明天的創(chuàng)新轉(zhuǎn)化成數(shù)百萬(wàn)計(jì)的工作。

In the last decade, technological leaps in solar and wind energy, semiconductor fabrication and display technologies have created thousands of jobs. But while many of those industries started in America, much of the employment has occurred abroad. Companies have closed major facilities in the United States to reopen in China. By way of explanation, executives say they are competing with Apple for shareholders. If they cannot rival Apple’s growth and profit margins, they won’t survive.

在過(guò)去十年，太陽(yáng)能與風(fēng)力發(fā)電技術(shù)、半導(dǎo)體制造、顯示技術(shù)等突飛猛進(jìn)，創(chuàng)造了數(shù)千個(gè)就業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)。雖然很多這方面的產(chǎn)業(yè)源自美國(guó)，該領(lǐng)域的工作卻在海外開(kāi)花結(jié)果。美國(guó)大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)基地關(guān)門(mén)，轉(zhuǎn)而在中國(guó)重新開(kāi)張。執(zhí)行官們解釋道，他們?cè)谂c蘋(píng)果爭(zhēng)奪投資者。如果他們不能與蘋(píng)果的增速與利潤(rùn)率相抗衡，他們將無(wú)法生存。

“New middle-class jobs will eventually emerge,” said Lawrence Katz, a Harvard economist. “But will someone in his 40s have the skills for them? Or will he be bypassed for a new graduate and never find his way back into the middle class?”

哈佛經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家Lawrence Katz說(shuō)：＂新的中產(chǎn)階級(jí)工作最終會(huì)出現(xiàn)，但到時(shí)40多歲的人是否能夠勝任？或者一整代人被直接跨過(guò)，從此與中產(chǎn)無(wú)緣？＂

The pace of innovation, say executives from a variety of industries, has been quickened by businessmen like Mr. Jobs. G.M. went as long as half a decade between major automobile redesigns. Apple, by comparison, has released five iPhones in four years, doubling the devices’ speed and memory while dropping the price that some consumers pay.

多個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)的執(zhí)行官認(rèn)為喬布斯一類的商人加快了創(chuàng)新速度。通用汽車(chē)曾經(jīng)五六年才對(duì)車(chē)輛設(shè)計(jì)進(jìn)行大改。相比之下，蘋(píng)果在四年內(nèi)推出了五款手機(jī)，在降低售價(jià)的同時(shí)將速度和內(nèi)存提高了兩倍。

Before Mr. Obama and Mr. Jobs said goodbye, the Apple executive pulled an iPhone from his pocket to show off a new application — a driving game — with incredibly detailed graphics. The device reflected the soft glow of the room’s lights. The other executives, whose combined worth exceeded $69 billion, jostled for position to glance over his shoulder. The game, everyone agreed, was wonderful.

在奧巴馬和喬布斯作別前，這位蘋(píng)果老總從口袋里掏出iPhone以炫耀一個(gè)新應(yīng)用軟件，一個(gè)畫(huà)面細(xì)節(jié)驚人的駕車(chē)游戲。手機(jī)反射著大廳內(nèi)緩和的光。身價(jià)總和超過(guò)690億美元的其他老總們爭(zhēng)搶觀賞最佳位置。眾人交口稱贊，游戲果然神奇。