According to reports from The China Morning News (via MICGadget), Foxconn is in the midst of a huge hiring drive, hoping to increase numbers 20,000 for production of the new iPhone in a place called Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, Northern China.

Machine translated (Chinese readers can submit a better version to tips@9to5mac.com):

Taiyuan Foxconn is building Apple iPhone5 production base, is now facing a huge shortage of workers, sources said the shortfall of about 20,000 people.The company is four nets emergency recruit people.

Taiyuan Foxconn staff Mr. Yu said that the company employment gap is still large, is the lack of shop front-line workers, “as long as they meet the conditions, the number of how many.”

Flourishing industry based on Apple’s position, the iPhone product line is Foxconn as the most important one of the foundry business in the mainland. Mr. Yu said, the Foxconn iPhone5 smart phone 85% of orders each year to produce about 57 million.

One reason for heavy and perhaps unforecasted recruitment demand might be a strike that is currently happening at the plant.  According to a separate report, workers have left their machines and taken to the streets over compensation.  We’re not going to pretend to understand the complexities involved but it would appear that the workers were promised a raise ahead of the next iPhone production and they may not have gotten all that they’ve asked for.

An entry-level worker at Foxconn is typically paid 1,550 yuan (US$ 245) per month, rising to to 1,800 yuan (US$ 285) per month after three months. When bonuses and overtime pay are included, a worker may typically earn between 2,200 and 3,500 yuan (US$ 345-$ 550) a month.

Video of striking workers, below:

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• Foxconn ramping up iPhone production with $ 1.1B investment (9to5mac.com)
• Foxconn employee tells us that the next iPhone is ready for production, indicates likely summer launch (9to5mac.com)