Recruiting focus on quality not quantity

Employees work on the assembly line at a Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.[Photo/BLOOMBERG]

MULTINATIONAL ELECTRONICS CONTRACTOR Foxconn Technology Group, headquartered in Tucheng, New Taipei, has announced it will invest $10 billion over the next four years to build a liquid-crystal display manufacturing facility in Wisconsin in the United States. China Youth Daily commented on Tuesday:

Foxconn's investment will be the largest new greenfield investment made by a foreign company in the United States, creating 3,000 new jobs and 10,000 more in the future, according to reports. The move is partly seen as a response to US President Donald Trump's ambition to revitalize domestic manufacturing.

Not long after he assumed office, Trump threatened to impose punitive tax as high as 35 percent on US companies manufacturing overseas and selling their products in the US.

Because of its high labor costs and thriving capital market, in theory, the US should import labor-intensive products and export capital-intensive ones. However, in reality, it is the other way round, as the country exports labor-intensive products thanks to its leading position in scientific research and technological innovation.

Investment in professional education and training has also helped US companies improve efficiency without employing a great number of workers. And more capital, intellectual and financial, has been poured into the manufacturing sector to facilitate automation. These have led to a steady increase in labor costs and a waning demand for manual labor.

Foxconn's new plant in Wisconsin, for example, will rely heavily on automation. Only 3,000 workers are needed in initial stages, which is not many considering the size of investment. The world's largest electronics contractor also aspires to advance in areas such as nanotechnology and cloud computing.

Foxconn should be an inspiration to mainland manufacturers that recruitment is becoming more about the quality of workers instead of the quantity.