‘They’re hiring less’: China’s ‘iPhone City’ falls quiet as market rivalry intensifies
The giant iPhone assembly plant in Zhengzhou has cut back on hiring as Apple loses market share in China and Foxconn shifts production overseas
Yukang, a cluster of housing complexes, restaurants and supermarkets on the outskirts of the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, used to be a bustling hub for China’s migrant workforce.
Its streets were thronged with labour dispatch agents hiring for the nearby super factory run by Foxconn Technologies, which assembles most of the world’s iPhone handsets for American tech giant Apple.
But the neighbourhood was eerily quiet in the days running up to the Lunar New Year in late January. There were few jobs being advertised, and many migrants had left early to return to their hometowns.
The local Foxconn recruitment centre was almost deserted, with only two jobseekers arriving to attend interviews during the Post’s 30-minute visit.
Local agents complained that Foxconn was cutting back on hiring in Zhengzhou and sending jobs overseas, making it harder for them to earn money.
They did not hire as many people last year. I guess that’s because Foxconn has been moving production lines out of China
Yukang is a victim of a deep shift taking place in the global supply chain, as Apple loses market share in China and Foxconn shifts production away from China’s export hubs amid an intensifying US-China trade war.