I've read this message thread and I'm surprised that nobody has posted the real reason that manufacturing jobs are being sent to China. I think most of you have a pretty good understanding - but then there are some that don't have an f'in clue like the person that made the slave labor comment.
It's global economics at work - and that may be a complex topic to understand fully - but to simplify the relative points - workers in China have an improving, but lower standard of living than we do over here. They also have a lower cost of living. I read one article which said that housing is (or was) subsidized by the government and that most families in China only pay 1% of their annual salaries on housing.
Foreign companies like Apple, HP and Samsung that send jobs to China don't show up and start exploiting workers - they pay a salary which is comparable to - and often better than - the salary the same worker would get at a local Chinese factory of such a job were available. Many under-educated people in the US can't understand what differences in the cost of living mean - or that money may go further in other parts of the world - so they hear things like $1/hour and they are shocked because they know that THEY couldn't survive for $1/day. They throw out what they think are simple solutions like "just because the Chinese government underpays people doesn't mean we should!" - or - "the US government should just force companies to make their products here in the US" and they don't realize what "solutions" like those would mean.
In the first example - let's say Apple shows up and builds a factory in China, then needs to hire 1,000 people to staff it. If they offer significantly less than the average salary, nobody is going to come and work for them - but if they offer a US salary - which could be 15 or 20 times the average salary in the area - they are going to be responsible for mass rioting and murders as workers try to make sure they get one of the jobs. You can't have such vast discrepancies without consequences. Factory workers would be paid more than skilled senior technical workers at other local companies. There is an entire economy that needs to be considered.
And in both of the examples I give - the COST of producing the items is going to go up DRAMATICALLY! It doesn't mean that the company will have to sacrifice some of their profits. It means there won't be any profits - or any sales! An iPhone that costs $30 to manufacture in China would likely cost $800 to manufacture in the US. And all of the components that Apple purchase from others to put inside the iPhone are also going to be MUCH more expensive if the manufacturing of them are moved to the US.. iPhones that currently cost $200 to manufacture, will cost $3000 to manufacture - and then Apple will still need their 40% markup on them - so go ahead and move all the jobs to the US - but prepare to pay over $4,000 for your phone - and your DJI drone will jump from $1000 to about $4000 also.
If you really want to understand why things are cheaper to manufacture in China - read the following Wiki article:
Standard of living in China - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bottom line is that workers in China welcome the foreign jobs and are generally pretty happy working for the salaries they are paid. Like anywhere else, they would like to earn more - but raising the standard of living in China has to come from within - a couple of foreign companies can't change things.
Bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US is a fools game. The ship has sailed on that and trying to make this happen would not do anybody any favours. What the government should be focusing on is creating new, different jobs to replace the manufacturing jobs that are gone for good.