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Foxconn's suicide rate is significantly lower than many places in the US and lower than the Chinese average This --repeated constantly-- doesn't say much. Stat

by batista 15y ago

Foxconn's suicide rate is significantly lower than many places in the US and lower than the Chinese average This --repeated constantly-- doesn't say much. Statistics are very tricky to get right. How does it relate with the average Chinese "suicide IN THE WORKPLACE" rate? It's one thing to kill yourself at home, and another to kill yourself at work. Second, do they also count the suicide rate of Foxconn employees that choose to kill themselves OUTSIDE of the company buildings/campus? Or are just workplace suicides counted? Because then, the comparison to the "chinese average" is also skewed. Third. How does the suicide rate of Foxconn workers compare to EMPLOYED chinese suicide rate? Because if the majority of chinese killing themselves are unemployed, poor, with financial difficulties etc, then Foxconn numbers could be above that average.

moonchrome 15y ago
>It's one thing to kill yourself at home, and another to kill yourself at work. And on the other hand they have huge dorms for workers which could skew the statistics in the other direction (off work counted as work). If the suicide rate is 10% of the general population rate then it's fair to say that it would take a lot of "skewing" for it to be significantly higher than the average. And that's sort of the point - when you hire 1 million low skilled employees you are bound to hire mentally unstable people - the kind that commits suicide over a relationship breakup, an argument, etc. So while it's possible that work conditions "triggered" the suicide they likely weren't "normal" individuals and it doesn't say much about working conditions at Foxconn - the suicide rate would have to be much higher than the average to claim that Foxconn is a deathtrap in which a normal person would commit suicide.
- batista 15y ago
  And that's sort of the point - when you hire 1 million low skilled employees you are bound to hire mentally unstable people - the kind that commits suicide over a relationship breakup, an argument, etc. I think this is a little biased, if not "racist" (class-ist?). I also take offense at the "they likely weren't 'normal' individuals". Who said that highly skilled people are less "mentally unstable"? If anything, they can be much more fickle and prone to self-questioning over minor shit. In any way, the workers at those places weren't much lower of higher skilled than the majority of the Chinese population --which includes expansive masses of no degree holders, factory and retail workers and farmers. (Let me unleash the anecdotal: Howard Hughes, Godel, Turing, Nash, the list of highly skilled guys turning cuckoo is huge. Not to mention highly skilled Asperger sufferers and the like).
  - moonchrome 15y ago
    >Who said that highly skilled people are less "mentally unstable"? What I meant to say is that you do a lot less screening/bulk hire with low skilled workers so it's not going to affect the statistics/you're even more likely that you will be close to the averages than if you were doing interviewing/management.

by batista 15y ago

moonchrome 15y ago

>It's one thing to kill yourself at home, and another to kill yourself at work. And on the other hand they have huge dorms for workers which could skew the statistics in the other direction (off work counted as work). If the suicide rate is 10% of the general population rate then it's fair to say that it would take a lot of "skewing" for it to be significantly higher than the average. And that's sort of the point - when you hire 1 million low skilled employees you are bound to hire mentally unstable people - the kind that commits suicide over a relationship breakup, an argument, etc. So while it's possible that work conditions "triggered" the suicide they likely weren't "normal" individuals and it doesn't say much about working conditions at Foxconn - the suicide rate would have to be much higher than the average to claim that Foxconn is a deathtrap in which a normal person would commit suicide.

batista 15y ago
And that's sort of the point - when you hire 1 million low skilled employees you are bound to hire mentally unstable people - the kind that commits suicide over a relationship breakup, an argument, etc. I think this is a little biased, if not "racist" (class-ist?). I also take offense at the "they likely weren't 'normal' individuals". Who said that highly skilled people are less "mentally unstable"? If anything, they can be much more fickle and prone to self-questioning over minor shit. In any way, the workers at those places weren't much lower of higher skilled than the majority of the Chinese population --which includes expansive masses of no degree holders, factory and retail workers and farmers. (Let me unleash the anecdotal: Howard Hughes, Godel, Turing, Nash, the list of highly skilled guys turning cuckoo is huge. Not to mention highly skilled Asperger sufferers and the like).
- moonchrome 15y ago
  >Who said that highly skilled people are less "mentally unstable"? What I meant to say is that you do a lot less screening/bulk hire with low skilled workers so it's not going to affect the statistics/you're even more likely that you will be close to the averages than if you were doing interviewing/management.