Foxconn Looking To Hire Chinese Workers For WIS Plant: Report

WISCONSIN -- Foxconn Technology Group is reportedly considering bringing in workers from China to help staff a new $10 billion electronics manufacturing plant currently under construction in southern Racine County - a claim that the company has since denied.

According to a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday, those workers would likely be engineers who would fill a potential talent gap due to shortages of such talent in a tight labor market.

Foxconn responded to the report shortly after its publication, saying:

"We can categorically state that the assertion that we are recruiting Chinese personnel to staff our Wisconsin project is untrue. Our recruitment priority remains Wisconsin first and we continue to focus on hiring and training workers from throughout Wisconsin. We will supplement that recruitment from other US locations as required.”

Wisconsin's unemployment rate hit a record-low of 3.0 percent earlier this year. According to Marketwatch, a tight labor market makes recruiting workers challenging and may be the reason Foxconn was reportedly looking outside the U.S. to fill apparent engineering talent gaps.

Foxconn Technology Group said that it is still planning to create 13,000 jobs in Southeastern Wisconsin and continue with its $10 billion investment in Racine County.

It would take state taxpayers a minimum of 25 years to break even on a proposed $3 billion incentive package that is designed to lure electronics manufacturer Foxconn to Wisconsin.

According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the cost of the tax credits would exceed potential increased tax revenues by $1.04 billion at the end of the fiscal year 2032-33.

After that year, payments to Foxconn would end and increased tax collections are estimated at $115 million annually. Their analysis, which was released Tuesday, implies that the break-even point would come during the 2042-43 fiscal year.

But it might not.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau in its analysis said that any cash-flow analysis that covers a period of nearly 30 years must be considered highly speculative, especially for a manufacturing facility and equipment that may have a limited useful life.

Technological advances and changes in Foxconn's market share, operating procedures, or product mix could significantly affect employment and wages at the proposed facility over time.

Also, state law changes could affect the estimated amount of tax collections received from the additional economic activity, and any future state assistance that may be provided to Foxconn would affect the analysis.

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