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Foxconn wages fall below US$3 per hour in Shenzhen as Apple shifts supply chain away from China

  • Foxconn was offering workers in China’s southern tech hub 19 to 20 yuan per hour this week, down from as much as 26 yuan last year
  • The Taiwanese manufacturer has been ramping up production in India and Vietnam as Apple seeks to diversify production away from China

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Workers in a Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, in southern China’s Guangdong province, on May 27, 2010. Photo: AFP
Iris Dengin Shenzhen
Foxconn Technology Group, Apple’s largest contract manufacturer, has slashed hourly rates for workers at its Shenzhen campus amid a supply chain shift away from China.

The iPhone maker’s facility in China’s southern technology hub was offering rates of 19 to 20 yuan (US$2.76 to US$2.90) per hour this week for smartphone assembly line and component production roles, according to three local hiring agents. This was down from the same period last year, when Foxconn was offering 22 to 26 yuan for the same jobs, according to job posts from agencies.

Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, declined to comment on Wednesday.

The wage cuts come amid Apple’s effort to ramp up production in markets outside China as it seeks to diversify its supply chain after major disruptions last year in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, known as iPhone City for the Foxconn facilities that produce more of the smartphones than anywhere else in the world.

After worker protests over stringent Covid-19 restrictions and mass walkouts, Foxconn raised wages and bonuses to try to woo back some people who had left.

The latest recruitment ad published by the Zhengzhou plant on Tuesday offered up to 2,500 yuan in subsidies to new hires, a fraction of the 6,500 yuan offered in April 2022.

Only about 70,000 workers are now at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant, less than half the designed capacity, according to a report from China Business News, a Shanghai-based newspaper. The article was later deleted.

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