The deindustrialisation of Western countries has led to multinational companies trawling the world like a “travelling band” in search of cheaper labour, according to the chief executive of Alcoa.

Klaus Kleinfeld said that there had been “fundamental changes” in where and how firms sought blue-collar labour. He said: “Those types of changes were probably seen first when there was a big debate around the deindustrialisation of Western countries, and interestingly this seems to continue.

“You actually have labour-intense industries very often that moved away from the US to Mexico, and if you go today to Mexico you’ll see that there are industries that have moved away from Mexico to SouthEast Asia.

“So it looks like it’s a travelling band almost that goes around the world and always looks for ‘where can we get the additional cost benefit from lower labour costs?’ A very interesting and very critical development, but one that we have to accept and probably have to live with.”

Mr Kleinfeld revealed that workers who helped to power a new aluminium smelter for Alcoa in Iceland had been flown in from Mongolia to complete the job.

He said: “We have just opened a large new aluminium smelter in the southeast of Iceland, and the aluminium smelter is the most modern technology. It’s a very clean technology because the energy that is used there comes from hydro energy – energy produced with water.

“Do you know who the workers were that built it? The workers were coming from Mongolia. Workers from Mongolia have the highest experience in building hydro dams, because they’ve built a lot of those in China.

“They were very, very happy to work in the Iceland environment, also because Iceland has a minimum wage regulation, so they earned more than they could have ever earned had they stayed in their home country.”

C.V.

Born: November 6, 1957, in Bremen, Germany

Education: MA, Business Administration & Economics, University of Göttingen; PhD, Strategic Management, University of Würzburg

Career: Before moving to the United States, in 2000, Mr Kleinfeld was executive vice-president and a member of the executive board of Siemens AG Medical Engineering group in Germany.

2001: chief executive of Siemens Corp, the US arm of Siemens AG.

2002: president, Siemens Corp.

2004: deputy chairman of the managing board and executive vice-president, Siemens AG.

2005: president and chief executive Siemens AG.

2007: president and chief executive, Alcoa

Interests: Skiing, tennis, the arts, marathon running

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax