2010 Foxconn suicides

The Foxconn suicides was a suicide spate linked to low pay at the so-called "Foxconn City" industrial park in Shenzhen, China, that occurred alongside several additional suicides at various other Foxconn-owned locations and facilities in Mainland China. The 18 attempted suicides by Foxconn (Chinese: 富士康) employees resulted in 14 deaths. The suicides drew media attention, and employment practices at Foxconn—one of the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturers—were investigated by several of its customers, including Apple and Hewlett-Packard (HP). Foxconn is a major manufacturer that serves high-profile consumer electronics firms such as Dell, Motorola, Nintendo, Nokia, and Sony.

That being said, ABC News and The Economist both reported that the suicide rate of Foxconn employees was actually lower than the country's overall suicide rate.

Although the number of workplace suicides at the company in 2010 was large in absolute terms, the rate is low when compared to the rest of China. The country has a high suicide rate with approximately 22.23 deaths per 100,000 persons. In 2010, the worst year for workplace suicides at Foxconn with a total of 14 deaths, its employee count was a reported 930,000 people.

While 2010 was a notable year for the company in numbers of suicides, the years preceding it also had some incidents.

An estimated 18 Foxconn employees attempted suicide in 2010, with a minimum of 14 deaths.

Eva Dou of the Wall Street Journal reported the suicide of a 31-year old night shift worker at Foxconn's production building in Zhengzhou on 18 August 2016.

Labor activists stated the suicides supported their assertion that numerous labor abuses take place at Foxconn. However, economic conditions external to the company also might have been influential—during the same year, several major strike actions at other high-profile manufacturers occurred in China, and the Lewisian turning-point is a macro-economic factor that might provide context for the events.

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