Knowledge@ASB: How China's Workforce Woes Became A Matter of Life and Death

After a spate of suicides by workers, Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s largest contract electronic manufacturer, is cutting overtime from 80 hours a month (to the legal limit of 36), raising wages, hiring counsellors and holding morale-boosting rallies. But safety nets remain installed on its buildings to stop would-be jumpers as the company plans to grow its workforce from 920,000 to 1.3 million in 2011. The Foxconn controversy springs from more holistic problems in the nation that’s been called the world’s biggest sweatshop. China’s workforce woes are pressured by the massive migration of younger workers and a rising inequality in wealth and income, argues Steve Frenkel, a professor at the Australian School of Business.