Apple to pay Foxconn employees direct subsidies

Following a rash of suicides that has drawn widespread attention, Apple will soon begin paying direct subsidies to Foxconn employees involved with manufacturing the company’s products in an effort to improve employee happiness. Citing unnamed sources, Chinese-language Zol.com reports (Translated Link) that Apple already pays Foxconn 2.3% of final product prices, but will expand this by paying an additional amount, reportedly in the 1-2% range, directly to the employees, subsidizing their current $132 monthly salary. The report also claims that the subsidies will initially be paid to iPad product line employees; no mention is made of if or when the additional payments might be extended to employees involved in the manufacture of other products such as the iPhone and iPod. [via Engadget]