Archives February 2008

Salary for new graduates edges up

The average starting salary for new graduates in 2007 was 1,798 yuan per month ($250), 210 yuan more than that of 2005, a survey conducted by Peking University shows.

The Beijing News reported on Tuesday that the survey on postgraduate employment shows 50 percent of graduates received a starting salary of over 1,500 yuan, with higher salaries for more advanced degrees.

According to the survey, male graduates receive higher salaries than females. The median starting salary for male graduates was 1,500 yuan, while that of female graduates was 1,300 yuan.

Research institutions, foreign-funded companies and government departments offer higher salaries to graduates. Administration management, business management and professional technical work were ranked as the top three fields, in terms of entry-level salaries.

The survey also shows that each graduate submits an average of nine applications when searching for a job, and receives an average of 4.3 interviews and 2.3 offers.

The results of the survey are based on 16,388 questionnaires collected from students at 28 universities and colleges in eastern, central and western China.

Policies to actively promote employment

China is stepping up its policy support to promote employment, said a circular released on Tuesday on the official government website.

The circular allowed localities to raise the ceiling of the amount of small loans – a policy partly designed to help the unemployed open their own businesses – and lower the threshold for qualified borrowers when necessary.

The preferential tax policies, which reduce or exempt the tax burden on the unemployed and the disabled, should continue to be carried out till the end of this year. New policies would be introduced in 2009.

The government has been taking measures to encourage companies to recruit those who have had difficulty in finding employment. It was also creating more public service jobs.

China has implemented active employment policies since 2002. It has increased the number of the newly employed in cities from 8.4 million in 2002 to 12.04 million people last year.

Employers boost wages in bid to attract workers

SHENZHEN: Companies in the Pearl River Delta area, the country’s manufacturing powerhouse, are raising wages to attract migrant workers amid fears of a worsening labor shortage, a survey has shown.

The survey was conducted by the service center of Guangzhou human resources markets, which looked at 252 companies with at least 200 employees each.

The poll found out that the average monthly salary offered to new staff was up 13 percent from last year at 1,160 yuan ($162).

The survey also showed that nearly 70 percent of the companies said they will hire new employees this year, up 20 percent from the same period of last year.

Still, the number of job-hunters has decreased and are said to be more picky, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

The first job fair in Guangzhou after the Spring Festival break on Friday reportedly offered about 7,000 vacancies, but attracted only 4,000 job-seekers.

Figures from the Guangzhou labor authority showed that sectors such as the textile, toy-making, construction, catering, electronics and service industries were top of the list for workers.

It was particularly difficult for the textile and toy-making industries to hire workers since such companies could offer an average monthly salary of just 960 yuan, far below what is available across the board, the labor authority said.

The situation was said to be similar in other cities in the Pearl River Delta region, such as Shenzhen and Dongguan, which has seen industrial restructuring and experienced the impact of the new labor law, researchers said.

However, research by the Asian Footwear Association showed that close to 1,000 shoemaking factories closed or moved out of the Pearl River Delta region last year, with 25 percent setting up in Southeast Asian countries, 50 percent in other mainland cities and about 25 percent adopting a wait-and-see approach.

“The industrial repositioning of the Pearl River Delta region has forced some of the companies in the region, especially those with less competitive edge in the market, to close or move out,” Ding Li, a researcher with Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, said.

“The flow of migrant labor has been a clear indication of that.”

The appreciation of the yuan, raw material price hikes and adjustment of export policies have also seen many private firms and companies funded by businesses from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan slowing down demand for migrant workers, the Guangdong labor authority said.

Asia holds Yahoo’s secret weapon

Yahoo! Inc’s secret weapon in its effort to squeeze a higher offer out of Microsoft Corp resides in Asia’s surging Internet market.

Yahoo has investments worth US$13.8 billion in Alibaba.com Corp, parent of China’s largest online trading site, and Yahoo Japan Corp. That accounts for almost one-third of the US$31 a share Microsoft is offering, Bloomberg News reported.

In one year, the value of those stakes may balloon 15 percent to US$15.9 billion, according to analyst estimates.

Unlike the United States search market, where Microsoft and Yahoo have been beaten down by Google Inc in text advertisements, Asia is geared more toward graphical banner ads where Google has less of a presence.

In China, the world’s second-largest Web market, online trading between companies may almost quadruple to the equivalent of US$1.05 trillion by 2010.

Yahoo investors may benefit as Microsoft pays more to gain access to this growth.

“Alibaba is a good franchise in the fastest-growing Internet market,” said Kevin Landis at Firsthand Capital Management in California.

“Stubbornly, these Yahoo shares didn’t respond to that.

”I think if you gave it time, they would.”

In rejecting Microsoft last week, Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang cited investments in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan as reasons the offer “substantially undervalues” Yahoo.

No competing bid has yet emerged.

Yahoo is in talks to combine Internet operations with those of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, sources said.

However, Yahoo spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler and News Corp spokeswoman Julie Henderson declined to comment.

Alibaba stake

Yahoo in 2005 swapped US$1 billion and its China units for 39 percent of privately held Alibaba.com Corp in Hangzhou.

The initial public offering last year of its Alibaba.com Ltd unit raised HK$13.1 billion (US$1.68 billion), the biggest IPO for an Internet company since Google in 2004.

Alibaba.com Corp also owns Web-auction site Taobao and online payment unit Alipay.

Sales from Taobao’s site more than doubled last year as rising incomes in China lifted the number of Internet users by 53 percent.

The amount of goods and services traded on the Web by Chinese companies may increase to 7.54 trillion yuan (US$1.05 trillion) in 2010, from 2.1 trillion yuan last year, according to Ping An Securities Co.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst George Askew in Baltimore valued Yahoo’s holdings in Alibaba.com Corp at US$4.93 billion as of a week ago.

With 33 percent control of Yahoo Japan and a 10-percent stake in South Korea’s GMarket Inc, Yahoo’s Asian investments equals US$13.6 billion, or US$9.74 a share, Askew said.

“Yahoo’s stronger position in Asia is one of the rationales for Microsoft’s takeover bid,” said Ivan Li, an analyst at Kim Eng Securities (HK) Ltd in Hong Kong.

Microsoft is pursuing Yahoo to bolster competition with Google in an online ad market that may double to US$80 billion by 2011.

Yahoo Japan, the country’s most popular Website, attracted 88 percent of local users in December, compared with 56 percent for Google.

It also offers access to a mobile-phone market where more than half of subscribers surf the Web.

China key

The Asian properties would be a boon for Microsoft, whose Internet business there lags behind competitors, said Claus Mortensen, a Hong Kong-based analyst.

Microsoft handled 1.2 percent of search queries in Asia in December, compared with Google’s 38.2 percent and 24.9 percent for Yahoo.

Display ads are 52 percent of the online market in Asia, compared with 20 percent for search.

In the US, search accounts for 40 percent, versus 31 percent for display and video.

Almost all of Google’s US$16.6 billion in sales last year came from search.

Microsoft faces challenges retaining Alibaba and Yahoo Japan clients wary of the world’s biggest software maker, said JupiterResearch analyst Neil Strother.

“On paper it gives Microsoft a bit of a leg up,” Strother said.

“Can they hold onto customers or do the customers decide that Yahoo Japan or Alibaba have just become the same as Microsoft?”

GM Buying Out Employees To Hire Cheaper Workers in China

General Motors Corporation has announced that they will be offering buyouts and early retirements to all of their 74,000 hourly workers in the United States who are members of the United Auto Workers union. Is this a good idea, or a very bad one? While it will increase profit for a great American auto manufacturer, it also leaves us wondering if: more of the jobs will be sent overseas; working for GM will no longer be an enviable position; the Union will die off.

The deal does reportedly come with more favorable terms than the 2006 offer that General Motors extended to service and parts workers in 2006. More terms of the buyout are here. We have to ask GM employees to respond here, because we’re clueless on this one. When we posted this article asking the FedEx to support unions, many FedEx workers weighed in that it was possibly not such a good idea (though others said direly needed).

GM hasn’t had the best history with union workers recently, though, and in September 2007 the UAW famously went on strike for the first time in 37 years. It’s also pretty hard to comprehend that they cannot afford to pay our American workers, but they can invest millions in a research center in Shanghai, China.

Male nurses scarce in China, despite many looking for work

BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) — There is something strange regarding the emerging occupation of male nurses in China. Advertisements claim they are in demand, yet many well-trained male nurses are looking for employment; some are trying to change their job, according to media reports.

In big cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, in fast-developing areas, as well as in less-developed provinces, male nurses are scarce. It’s exceedingly difficult for hospitals to recruit them.

Many people attribute the scarcity to society’s view point that nursing is a women’s job. Women are seen as more careful and patient than men, while as nurses they take great care of patients, providing injections and dispensing medicine.

In fact, there are many reasons hospitals need male nurses. In general, they are physically stronger or more energetic than women. Male nurses are particularly needed in emergency departments, men’s departments and psychiatric hospitals, to name but a few, according to some experts.

According to some media studies, many students and their parents hold the wrong concepts about the profession. This is the main reason very few males are likely to take nursing when they choose a subject for their secondary or higher learning.

According to a staff member of Jinan Health School in the Shandong provincial capital, in 2002, the institute recruited more than 130 students for its nursing program. Among them, only eight were male. What’s worse, four later transferred to other specialties.

Although hospitals claim a scarcity of males in nursing specialties leads to the recruitment difficulty, those seeking employment see it rather differently.

In a recent employment poll of male nurses conducted by China’s Male Nurse Forum (www.malenurse.cn/bbs/), the 31 nurses participating gave surprising responses.

The results showed only five were still on the job, two had changed occupation, and the other 24 were looking for employment.

A male nursing high school graduate who asked to remain anonymous said it was extremely difficult to find a hospital job if you have no money or connections with hospital leaders. A bribe of at least 50,000 yuan (about 6,670 U.S. dollars) is needed to secure employment, the man claimed.

While an overwhelming majority of male nurses chose their specialty due to the introduction of teachers and parents, many were now regretting their decision.

Another unidentified male nursing student in Shanghai who claimed he was inveigled into the profession, said “It’s really a shame for a man to do nursing”.

Feng Hongsheng, a Jinan Air Force Hospital nurse, said when he was a hospital intern his teacher told him, “Get a move on. You’d better change your occupation while you are young”.

Feng said his base monthly salary is 800 yuan (about 106.67 U.S.dollars). One of his teachers at the hospital who has worked for more than 30 years, earns only 1,000 yuan a month.

He added nurses were at a disadvantage and their social status and pay were not good. He is planning to leave the hospital and do nursing for private households in his own business.

Chen Zengchuan, an employee with a labor agency for health professionals in the southwest Chongqing Municipality, said the scarcity of male nurses doesn’t directly mean a pressing need as “there are enough female nurses in every hospital”.

The main reason for the scarcity lies in the low payment for nurses. He suggested the salary and social status for male nurses be enhanced so as to ensure a sustainable development of this emerging occupation.

New Labor Contract Law Raises China’s Labor Costs

As millions of migrant workers are about to return to factories across costal provinces in Southeast China after the lunar new year, a report from China’s most high profile domestic investment bank, the China International Capital Corporation Ltd. (CICC) concludes that many small and medium-sized labor-intensive enterprises believe the new Labor Contract Law will increase labor costs and affect their recruitment plans.

CICC’s investigation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces reveals that in most areas there is little room left for further rural labor transfer. Due to a relatively insufficient labor supply, wages for migrant workers in recent years have been growing at an annual average rate of 10-15%. Meanwhile, the productivity of private enterprises has been increasing at the same speed, if not faster.

The Yangtze Delta, in which Jiangsu and Zhejiang are located, is one of China’s most important export-oriented economic zones. Most of the private enterprises in these two provinces are in labor-intensive industries, areas that have a great need of migrant and technical workers. The report indicates that the diminishing supply of workers has added to the difficulty in recruiting new workers. To retain workers, private enterprises have had to increase wages, resulting in wages maintaining an annual growth rate of 10-15%. However, most of the companies looked at as part of the investigation claimed they could afford such growth because the productivity of the businesses had also increased. They also predict that wages in 2008 will continue to grow by at least 10%. However, the New Labor Contract Law will have little impact on large enterprises and high-tech enterprises.

The kind of small and medium-sized labor-intensive enterprises surveyed in Jiangsu and Zhejiang province did not pay social security premiums for all their employees. The new law, which forces them to pay the premium, will raise labor costs in these companies. Regulations about overtime wages in the new law will also add to these costs. Most companies investigated believe the new Labor Contract Law will significantly increase potential risks for labor-capital disputes and could therefore influence the company’s recruitment plans.

Many companies are unsatisfied with the new law. They claim that unequal rights and duties in the new law could be easily abused by employees and will add to the implicit costs of companies. The new law aims to provide migrant workers with endowment insurance, but this isn’t suitable for China’s current situation and can’t be enacted anyway because of the high mobility of the rural labor force and the current social security system which has yet be unified nationwide. Meanwhile, most migrant workers are unwilling to pay the social security premium, as they would prefer to receive more cash in their pay packet. So neither companies nor workers welcome the new law. Some entrepreneurs even believe the government is attempting to shift its social responsibility onto private businesses.

Another concern about the new law lies in the inflation problem that is likely to worsen due to raised labor costs. The investigation shows that incremental labor costs may not be completely shifted to the product price. Because of the low technical content and low threshold, there is fierce competition in labor-intensive industries. Despite the constant increase in raw materials and labor costs, most small and medium-sized private enterprises have not shifted incremental costs onto consumers. Instead, they have offset these costs by improving productivity. In fact, the majority of these companies are operating within meager profit margins.

A clothing company based in Wenzhou, a city in Zhejiang province famous for highly developed private sector economy, estimates the new Labor Contract Law may add an extra 15% in labor costs to companies. But because of the acute competition they are unable to offset these costs by lifting prices, but may rather have to reduce prices in order to promote sales.

The report concluded that while the new law may not cause apparent inflation pressures in the short-term, it would possibly affect companies’ income and employment prospects. Large enterprises and state-owned enterprises will basically remain unaffected as they have long been paying social security for all their employees; High-tech companies, benefiting from a high added-value, small number of employees and regular social security payments, are also unlikely to be influenced. But for those small and medium-sized enterprises with low added value, the new law will undoubtedly raise labor costs. And fierce competition among them makes it difficult to shift cost pressures by lifting product prices. Seen from a mid and long-term perspective, the negative influence on the income of small and medium-sized enterprises may promote purchases and mergers among such industries. This will lead to an increased degree of concentration within the sector and ultimately see labor cost increases reflected in higher product prices. Therefore, pressures on commodity prices brought about by the new Labor Contract Law can’t be ignored

Baidu profit beats estimates as company wins users

Baidu.com Inc, operator of China’s most used Internet search site, reported profit and sales that topped analysts’ estimates after services to find celebrity news and videos helped attract users from Yahoo! Inc.

Fourth-quarter net income rose 79 percent to 219.8 million yuan ($30.5 million), or 6.32 yuan per American depositary receipt, from 122.8 million yuan, or 3.54 yuan per ADR, a year earlier, Baidu said in a statement. Sales more than doubled to 571.1 million yuan.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Robin Li lured visitors away from Yahoo and Sohu.com Inc, extending Baidu’s lead in a market that’s home to 210 million online users. The company today forecast sales this quarter may double as user gains counter Web traffic disrupted by the country’s worst snowstorms in 50 years.

“People tend to travel during the Chinese New Year holiday and that will cut Internet traffic,” JPMorgan Securities Inc analyst Dick Wei, who called the fourth-quarter results “respectable.” The snowstorm “also hurt traffic as a result of power failure or infrastructure damage.”

Wei rates Baidu stock “overweight.”

Analysts had estimated its fourth-quarter profit of 184.1 million yuan, according to the average of seven estimates compiled by Bloomberg. They projected sales of 548.3 million yuan, based on 12 estimates.

Baidu rose as much as 7.2 percent to $280 in US after-hours trading following the earnings announcement. The ADRs, which each represent one Class A share, climbed $15.66 to $261.09 today in regular Nasdaq Stock Market trading.
Baidu predicted first-quarter sales of 533 million yuan to 548 million yuan, which would mean an increase of as much as 99 percent from a year earlier. The forecast missed the average estimate of seven analysts surveyed for revenue of 566.7 million yuan.

“First-quarter sales will be affected by the snowstorms and the holidays,” CEO Li said on a conference call today. Internet “traffic typically goes down quite a lot during the Chinese New Year holidays.”

China’s worst snowstorms in half a century clogged travel in the nation before the Lunar New Year. More than three weeks of storms knocked out power to half the country’s provinces and closed road, rail and air routes.

“There’s a little bit of concern on the forward outlook,” Colin Gillis, an analyst with Canaccord Adams Inc. in New York, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. Gillis rates Baidu “sell.”Market Share

Baidu’s share of the Chinese search market rose to 60 percent in the fourth quarter from 58 percent a year earlier, according to Analysys International. Google Inc’s share climbed to 26 percent from 17 percent, while Yahoo’s fell to 9.6 percent from 13 percent. Sohu’s share dropped to 1.2 percent from five percent, the Beijing-based research firm said.

“Baidu is the dominant search company in China, and no rival is near to overtaking them,” Eric Wen, an analyst at BNP Paribas in Shanghai, said before the announcement. He advises investors to buy the shares.

Shen Haoyu, vice president of business operations, will oversee the company’s financial operations until a replacement for Chief Financial Officer Shawn Wang is found, Li said. Wang died on Dec. 27 in an accident in China.

China added 73 million Internet users in 2007, making the nation the world’s second-largest Internet market after the U.S. according to the government-backed China Network Information Center.

Fourth-quarter development spending at Baidu more than doubled to 46.5 million yuan after the company added workers. Sales and administrative expenses rose 86 percent to 132.2 million yuan as Baidu expanded its direct sales staff.

The Web company has started a service in Japan and plans to open a consumer trading site this year to compete with Alibaba.com Corp.

Yahoo, which rejected a takeover bid from Microsoft Corp. this week, became Alibaba’s single biggest shareholder in 2005. Alibaba owns China’s biggest trading Web sites for individuals and businesses.

Baidu plans to introduce a service in 2008 that will compete for users with Alibaba’s Taobao.com, a Web site where individuals sell goods to one another. Alibaba.com Corp is the parent of Hong Kong-listed Alibaba.com Ltd.

Baidu’s Li said the company is “open to all kinds” of share-listing options, though it’s “unlikely” the company will sell stock in Hong Kong in 2008.

Ten Tips on Making a Successful Career Change

Are you looking for more than just a better job? Are you looking for a more rewarding profession, one that better aligns with your skills, interests, values, and plans for the future? If so, be prepared to face a lot of reflection and planning.

It’s important to take a serious look at the many possibilities and outcomes before you jump into a new career or field. Consider these 10 tips as you make a transition from your present career to your next:

Have a clear plan. The smartest move that you can make is to carefully map out an effective career-change strategy. This should include a detailed action plan that takes into consideration finances, research, education, and training. Keep in mind that a successful career change can take several months or longer to accomplish, so patience is key.
Wait for the right time. The best time to consider a new career is when you are safely ensconced in your existing position. It goes without saying that a steady paycheck can relieve a lot of pressure. There are many ways to take steps toward your new career path; you can volunteer or offer yourself as a freelancer or consultant. This can help you to “test the waters” in your desired new field.
Be sure of your reasons. Just because you’re unhappy in your current job isn’t a strong enough reason to make a total career break. Carefully analyze whether it is your actual career you dislike or whether your employer, supervisor, or office situation is the problem.
Do your research. Be sure to examine all possibilities before attempting a career jump. Talk to people in your network; read career and job profiles; meet with a career management professional. The more information with which you arm yourself beforehand, the more successful you will be.
Decide what’s important. This is the best time for thoughtful self-reflection. Ask yourself what it is you really want to do with the rest of your life. Take an honest inventory of your likes and dislikes, and evaluate your skills, values, and personal interests. Many people who are looking to change careers do so to find a balance between their personal and professional lives, to accomplish the right mix of meaning and money. You may want to consider consulting a career coach and/or taking a career assessment test.
Examine your qualifications. Do you have the necessary experience and education to be considered a qualified candidate in your desired career field? If not, you need to find a way to bridge the credentials gap. This might mean making your goal more long-term while you go back to school or receive additional training.
Learn about the industry. Get a feel for the field that interests you. Read industry journals, attend conferences, and talk to people in the profession about what they do. Learn whether your target industry has growth potential. Trade magazines, organizations, and entrepreneurs have created a slew of Web sites that offer searchable databases where job openings in many specific industries are listed. Start looking at these sites on a regular basis.
Develop your network. Begin nurturing professional friendships early and tend them regularly. Professional organizations and job industry trade associations are a good place to start. Many of them hold networking events and job fairs.
Update your job search skills. It is especially important to polish up your job-hunting skills and techniques before you get out there and start networking. Make sure you are using your time and resources as effectively as possible.
Pay your dues. Don’t expect to begin at the same level of seniority in your new career that you held in your old one. It will take time to move up the ranks, but if you find a new career that you absolutely love, it will be worth it.

World Bank to appoint Chinese academic as chief economist

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) – The World Bank will name a Chinese academic, Justin Lin, as its next chief economist, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The report said the move is intended to increase the presence of the developing world in the bank’s senior management.

Lin, 55, also known as Lin Yifu, replaces Francois Bourguignon, who retired in October, the report said.

Lin founded the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University, and advises the Chinese government. He will be the first Chinese citizen to be the bank’s chief economist.

The newspaper said final approval by the bank’s governing board is expected by the end of the month.