4 ms·

So %0.0012 (11/920'000) of their workforce has committed suicide? What is the average percentage of suicide deaths in that age range in china?

by elai 16y ago

aaronbrethorst 16y ago
Significantly higher than that, from what I understand. It's actually one of those unfortunately 'uninteresting' headlines that will just never make headlines: "Foxconn suicides significantly below national averages." Remember: newspapers and blogs are in the selling eyeballs business, not in the reporting news business.
- nostromo 16y ago
  Well, to be fair, these people commited suicide at work and sometimes left notes pointing to their failures at work while working 7 days a week for 15 hours a day. I don't personally think this story is just media hype. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-05/25/c_13313857.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-05/25/c_133... http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/malcolmmoore/100039883/what-has-triggered-the-suicide-cluster-at-foxconn/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/malcolmmoore/100039883/wha... From the linked Telegraph article, "For those who believe the spate of suicides is statistically in line, given how many people work at Foxconn, consider this: the company says it has prevented a further 30 people from trying to kill themselves in the past three weeks alone."
  - deleted 16y ago
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  - alexandros 16y ago
    Shall we tally up attempted suicides in the general population also?
  - timruffles 16y ago
    "these people commited suicide at work" - they live at work, in dormitories.
- deleted 16y ago
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ugh 16y ago
Those who committed suicide were between 18 and 29 years old. The suicide rate in mainland China for 15 to 24 year olds is 0.007 percent, the suicide rate for 25 to 34 year olds is 0.015 percent (WHO, 1999, http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/chin.pdf http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/chin.pdf). I wouldn’t be so fast with comparisons, though. You might have to double your percentage (the suicides happened between January and May 2010). I also don’t know whether suicides of Foxconn workers not on company estates are included. That might skew the numbers substantially.
dsspence 16y ago
The United States Army has a suicide rate of 20.2/100,000. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/suic-j06.shtml http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/suic-j06.shtml
- yread 16y ago
  Of course! These people are in a war! They get slaughtered, they slaughter, they can get woken up anytime by a crazy ally shooting everybody! They can't trust even most common items as they can be stuffed with explosives. They can't trust the locals because they might be after them. Would you like your workplace to be like that? I mean, I hope that there is no workplace as stressful as a war.
  - eru 16y ago
    I fear there is. Street prostitutes aren't doing very well.
duck 16y ago
stringing more than 3 million square meters of yellow-mesh netting around its buildings to catch jumpers Out of all the ways to reduce the suicide rate, I don't think this would of made my list.
- megablast 16y ago
  To be fair, this is no the only thing they did, and it is a lot more visual than the other methods they tried. Visual can be good. They had to do the same thing at a mall near where I live, they strung up safety nets to stop people jumping the 7 stories to their deaths. Of course, there weren't workers at the mall, but it is just something you can do, on top of the usual.
deleted 16y ago
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eduardoflores 16y ago
From World Health Organization, 1999 for "selected rural & urban areas", the suicide rate is 13.0 (male) 14.8 (female) suicide per 100,000. Wolfram Alpha shows 20.9 suicide per 100,000 persons per year. Both looks pretti high compared to other countries. http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/ http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicider... http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=china+suicide+rate http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=china+suicide+rate

So %0.0012 (11/920'000) of their workforce has committed suicide? What is the average percentage of suicide deaths in that age range in china?

by elai 16y ago

So %0.0012 (11/920'000) of their workforce has committed suicide? What is the average percentage of suicide deaths in that age range in china?

aaronbrethorst 16y ago

Significantly higher than that, from what I understand. It's actually one of those unfortunately 'uninteresting' headlines that will just never make headlines: "Foxconn suicides significantly below national averages." Remember: newspapers and blogs are in the selling eyeballs business, not in the reporting news business.

nostromo 16y ago
Well, to be fair, these people commited suicide at work and sometimes left notes pointing to their failures at work while working 7 days a week for 15 hours a day. I don't personally think this story is just media hype. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-05/25/c_13313857.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-05/25/c_133... http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/malcolmmoore/100039883/what-has-triggered-the-suicide-cluster-at-foxconn/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/malcolmmoore/100039883/wha... From the linked Telegraph article, "For those who believe the spate of suicides is statistically in line, given how many people work at Foxconn, consider this: the company says it has prevented a further 30 people from trying to kill themselves in the past three weeks alone."
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- alexandros 16y ago
  Shall we tally up attempted suicides in the general population also?
- timruffles 16y ago
  "these people commited suicide at work" - they live at work, in dormitories.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]

ugh 16y ago

Those who committed suicide were between 18 and 29 years old. The suicide rate in mainland China for 15 to 24 year olds is 0.007 percent, the suicide rate for 25 to 34 year olds is 0.015 percent (WHO, 1999, http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/chin.pdf http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/chin.pdf). I wouldn’t be so fast with comparisons, though. You might have to double your percentage (the suicides happened between January and May 2010). I also don’t know whether suicides of Foxconn workers not on company estates are included. That might skew the numbers substantially.

dsspence 16y ago

The United States Army has a suicide rate of 20.2/100,000. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/suic-j06.shtml http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/suic-j06.shtml

yread 16y ago
Of course! These people are in a war! They get slaughtered, they slaughter, they can get woken up anytime by a crazy ally shooting everybody! They can't trust even most common items as they can be stuffed with explosives. They can't trust the locals because they might be after them. Would you like your workplace to be like that? I mean, I hope that there is no workplace as stressful as a war.
- eru 16y ago
  I fear there is. Street prostitutes aren't doing very well.

duck 16y ago

stringing more than 3 million square meters of yellow-mesh netting around its buildings to catch jumpers Out of all the ways to reduce the suicide rate, I don't think this would of made my list.

megablast 16y ago
To be fair, this is no the only thing they did, and it is a lot more visual than the other methods they tried. Visual can be good. They had to do the same thing at a mall near where I live, they strung up safety nets to stop people jumping the 7 stories to their deaths. Of course, there weren't workers at the mall, but it is just something you can do, on top of the usual.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

eduardoflores 16y ago

From World Health Organization, 1999 for "selected rural & urban areas", the suicide rate is 13.0 (male) 14.8 (female) suicide per 100,000. Wolfram Alpha shows 20.9 suicide per 100,000 persons per year. Both looks pretti high compared to other countries. http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/ http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicider... http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=china+suicide+rate http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=china+suicide+rate