Apple's cut-price maker of iPhones Foxconn is scouting around trying to find older workers who it thinks are less likely to kill themselves. Reports from China say that Foxconn is fed up with the bad publicity that a string of suicides at its plants have bought.

After sticking up nets and hiring Buddhist monks to teach people how to be calm, Foxconn thinks that the only way forward is to hire people who are old enough to know that life is a bit crap and you may as well make the most out of it.

The latest person to top herself was a female employee, who fell to her death on August 4 at Foxconn's Shenzhen plant. Police have already ruled out the possibility of murder but they indicate that among the victim's belongings, were chlorprothixene and risperidone, drugs used to treat and control mental disorders.

New employee evaluations at Foxconn plants include applicants to have mature mental state and psyche exams before they get the job.