Why We’re Concerned
Low Wages and Low-Quality Jobs
Elected officials and the semiconductor industry promise to bring good jobs to American workers. But the evidence suggests that many of the new jobs may be low-wage and low-quality.
The Semiconductor Industry Association cites an average salary for semiconductor workers of $170,000. But averages can be misleading: this figure includes professional and management salaries along with lower wages of frontline production workers.
Today in the United States, assemblers and fabricators in the semiconductor industry, the largest group of employees in chip factories, earn an average wage of just $42,520. These jobs are accessible to applicants with just a high school diploma or a GED, but half of the workers in these positions earn less than $19.08 an hour. Clearly, many of these jobs will not deliver the good family-sustaining salaries that communities expect or deserve.
Semiconductor engineers also report unsustainable working conditions: heavy workloads, high stress, poor training, long hours (including regular twelve-hour days plus weekends), unrealistic expectations from supervisors, and limited breaks.
A TSMC engineer in Arizona reported that “people … slept in the office for a month straight… Twelve-hour days are standard, weekend shifts are common. I cannot stress … how brutal the work-life balance is here.” Similarly, Intel engineers in Oregon reported working “80+ hour weeks, transitioning at a whim between day shift and night shifts as management demanded…on call all of the time.”
We support
- Guarantees that jobs supported by public incentives like the CHIPS Act are good union jobs that pay living wages, provide comprehensive benefits, and keep workers safe
- Pay equity and transparency
- Fair schedules
- Child care and other supportive services
