Henry Ford was the Foxconn of his day. When the average turnover at his factories dropped to 9 months because people would leave over low pay and bad work conditions to go work at another automaker, he implemented the $5 day. It roughly doubled pay for the workers at the time but it came with a cost. The workers had to have their home life inspected, couldn't be drunks, drug users or abusive to their spouses, their kids had to be in school - essentially he used the wage increase to give license to tighter screening of employees lives both at work and home.<p>It worked, productivity went up, lots of free press, and sales went up. The common belief was the raise was about the worker being able to buy his own car, but there was more to the story. I recommend "Wheels for the World" as an excellent book about this. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wheels-World-Company-Century-Progress/dp/B000BZ99PQ" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Wheels-World-Company-Century-Progress/...</a>
This is great news, and is what progress looks like.<p>Even if you look back towards the start of these factories, the jobs they have been offering are better than subsistence farming. They're not pleasant by Western standards, and they're not something you'd want people to have to do, but they are progress. That's why foxconn has no trouble finding staff.<p>Now, as these industries have been built where seeing standards improve. This is progress, and this is capitalism lifting hundreds of thousands (if not millions) out of poverty.
For comparison: <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor" rel="nofollow">http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-f...</a>:<p>"Even more than you are hurting the company, a voice-over intones as animated people do things like accidentally oversleep, you are hurting yourself when you are late because you will be penalized on a point system, and when you get too many points, you're fired—unless you're late at any point during your first week, in which case you are instantly fired"<p>*There are transition points in the warehouse floor where the footing is uneven, and people trip and sprain ankles. Give forklifts that are raised up several stories to access products a wide berth: "If a pallet falls on you, you won't be working with us anymore." Watch your fingers around the conveyor belts that run waist-high throughout the entire facility. People lose fingers."<p>10+hour shifts, net $60 a day, in the USA.