Asian Tech Press (Jan 7) -- The world's biggest iPhone production base, Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory complex started a rare off-season recruitment of high salaries to meet robust demand for Apple Inc's 2021 flagship iPhone 13 series.

Job postings on Wednesday showed that Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Foxconn Technology Group is hiring employees with high salaries for its Zhengzhou plant in the central China's Henan province, sparking heated debate in the industry.

According to the recruitment information, temporary workers can earn a monthly salary of 7,000-9,000 yuan ($1,098-$1,412) when they start working before the Spring Festival, while regular workers can earn at least 22,000 yuan ($3,452) for three months of work.

This is the second time that Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory started hiring workers in just two months after the large-scale recruitment in December last year.

Based on relevant analysis, the recruitment at Zhengzhou is to meet seasonal demand generated by the iPhone 13 during Chinese New Year, and also to prepare for the upcoming shortage of manpower due to the return of migrant workers to their hometowns.

Zhengzhou is Foxconn's largest iPhone production base in the mainland China, with more than 90 production lines and 350,000 workers, and about half of the world's Apple phones come from there.

(US$1 = 6.3736 yuan)