Archives October 2017

Shanghai now a sellers’ market for job hunters

Increasing demand for workers amid a shrinking labor pool is driving salary offers higher than job seekers’ expectations.

“Offered salaries have been lower than job seekers’ expectations for a very long time,” said Wang Jiawen, a career information analyst at the city’s employment promotion center, which released a study on the jobs market yesterday.

“But we noticed they began to exceed expectations in the fourth quarter last year and the trend has become increasingly very obvious in the past 10 months.”

Average offers were 4,630 yuan ($700) a month in August, against average expectations of 4,474 yuan, the report said.

The average offers cover from entry-level to more experienced positions.

The shift reflects significant changes in the labor market.

“The recruitment needs have been high, but the working-age population is declining,” Wang said.

Shanghai is expanding and upgrading its industrial infrastructure, fuelling strong growth in demand for skilled workers — and making it harder for employers to find people with the right skills and qualifications.

“Previously, people had to lower their expectations to get a job as soon as possible,” Wang said.

“But now, employers have had to increase their offers to hire the right talent as soon as possible.

“The job market is no longer a buyers’ market. It is a sellers’ market.”

He forecast that trend to continue over the long term, with salary offers continuing to rise.

The report also found the general average pay offered by employers across the total job market was 8.8 percent higher in August than the lame period last year.

But that is still below the average of 9.6 percent growth in recent years.

The finance industry has the best offers -— 5,436 yuan a month in August, up 5 percent from a year earlier.

Next best were hydraulic engineering, environment and public facility management averaging about 5,252 yuan a month and information, computer services and software, offering about 5,144 yuan a month — which showed the highest growth over last year at 15.6 percent.

Private companies offered the highest wages — 4,733 yuan a month.

Money offered by foreign ventures saw the highest growth, with a 9.2 percent increase to 4,484 yuan.

Men are still offered more than women — 4,825 yuan a month, compared with 4,609.

Qihoo 360 sets up subsidiary in Xiongan New Area

Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd has completed its registration in China’s Xiongan New Area to set up a subsidiary, becoming the first cybersecurity company to set its footprint in this new economic area, according to a report by Shanghai Securities News on Friday.

The subsidiary was established on Oct 12, 2017, with registered capital of 10 million yuan ($1.52 million), the report said, adding that Qihoo 360 has pledged its safety network will cover social and economic aspects in Xiongan and will help train more cybersecurity talents in the area as well.

Meanwhile, the People’s Insurance Company (Group) of China, China’s major insurer, announced On Oct 11 that its proposed subsidiary PICC Pension Company Limited (PICC Pension) has been granted approval to commence operation from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

The registered capital of PICC Pension will be 4 billion yuan, with its place of registration in Xiongan New Area and its place of operation in Beijing city, an announcement on PICC’s website said.

And information on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System showed that a unit of China’s real estate giant Vanke Co Ltd was registered on Oct 10, with 2 billion yuan registered capital and Hebei’s Xiongxian, part of Xiongan New Area, as its registration place.

These are among 48 companies in the first batch to have been given green light to set up units in the economic zone, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Tencent Holdings Ltd, Baidu Inc, Jingdong Finance, Shenzhen Kuang-Chi, China Telecom, according to the administrative committee of Xiongan.

Fourteen companies are leading Chinese information technology firms, 15 are in finance, seven are research institutes, and five are focused on green technology.

Nineteen of them are centrally-administered State-owned enterprises and 21 are private companies.

The committee’s official WeChat account said on Sept 28 that high-end and high-tech companies will be the mainstream of industry in the area.

While Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba announced on Sept 29 that it will set up three subsidiaries in Xiongan with a total registered capital of 160 million yuan, tech giant Tencent also set up a subsidiary on Sept 26 in the new area with a registered capital of 20 million yuan, according to Tianyancha, an enterprise data query system.

The Xiongan New Area, a new economic zone about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, was announced in April. It covers Hebei’s Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin counties.

The project aims to relieve the pressure of population on Beijing and build another economic powerhouse along the lines of those built near Shenzhen and Shanghai.

China to invest big in ‘Made in China 2025’ strategy

China will step up financial support for major projects of its “Made in China 2025” strategy, a blueprint for upgrading the country’s manufacturing sector.[Special Coverage]

Sectors that boost manufacturing innovation, including the Internet of Things, smart appliances and high-end consumer electronics, are the major priority for funding, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The total funding is likely to exceed 10 billion yuan (1.5 billion U.S. dollars), Xinhua-run Economic Information Daily reported.

Aside from central-level funding, local authorities will also increase financial support for “Made in China 2025” projects with over 10 billion yuan expected to be invested by local governments nationwide from 2016 to 2020.

The MIIT will also cooperate with China Development Bank to provide financial services including loans, bonds, leasing to support major projects, with an estimated 300 billion yuan of financing in place in the 2016-2020 period.

“The financial support gives a clear direction for future development in China’s manufacturing innovation and boosts social confidence in economic restructuring and upgrades,” said Wu Hequan, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering.

The “Made in China 2025” strategy, a roadmap released by the State Council in 2015 to guide the country’s advanced industrial manufacturing, has seen steady progress in industrial capability, smart manufacturing, innovation, as well as product quality and branding.

Average productivity was up by 38 percent for China’s first 109 pilot projects in smart manufacturing, while operating costs dropped by 21 percent, according to the MIIT.

Insurance industry faces profound changes

China’s insurance industry is facing profound changes in terms of policy, environment and technology, said Huang Hong, deputy president of China Insurance Regulatory Commission, on Tuesday.

He made this comment at the China Life Insurance October Qianhai Summit 2017 in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

He stressed that the key of the country’s financial policy now is to serve the entity economy, control financial risks, and deepen reform.

“Serving the entity economy should be reflected through the entire asset management process in a broad range, including stabling people’s lives, promoting consumption, and supporting the building of major projects,” he said.

In addition he believes new technology, such as mobile internet, big data, AI and genetic tests, are changing consumer behaviors, service methods and sales channels in China.

Huang also argued the industry should continue to open up, stably relax the threshold for foreign insurance companies to enter the domestic market and encourage foreign capital to take part in health care and retirement insurance.

Ng Keng Hooi, chief executive and president of AIA Group Ltd, noted at the summit the life insurance market in Asia remains the strongest in the world and is at an inflection point for continued high growth.

China makes better-than-expected progress in overcapacity cuts

China has made better-than-expected progress in cutting overcapacity in the steel and coal sectors amid steadfast government efforts to push economic restructuring.

In Hebei Province, where the task in cutting overcapacity is tough, 15.72 million tons of steel production capacity and 14.08 million tonnes of iron were cut in the first half of this year, progressing faster than the same period last year, according to local authorities.

China’s steel industry has long been plagued by overcapacity. The government aims to slash steel production capacity by around 50 million tonnes this year.

Nationwide, 85 percent of the target for excess steel capacity had been met by the end of May, through phasing out substandard steel bars and zombie companies, with Guangdong, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces already meeting the annual target, data from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) showed.

About 128 million tons of backward coal production capacity was forced out of the market by the end of July, reaching 85 percent of the annual target, with seven provincial-level regions exceeding the annual target.

As a large number of zombie companies withdrew from the market, companies in the steel and coal sectors have improved their business performance and market expectations.

Lifted by improved demand and lower supply due to government policies to cut steel overcapacity and enhance environmental protection, steel prices continued to pick up, with the domestic steel price index gaining 7.9 points from July to 112.77 in August, and increasing 37.51 points from a year earlier, according to China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).

“It is unprecedented, showing that overcapacity cuts have prompted the healthy and sustainable development of the sector and improved business conditions of steel companies,” said Jin Wei, head of CISA.

Companies in the coal sector also gained profits. In the first half, the country’s large coal companies registered total profits of 147.48 billion yuan (about 22.4 billion U.S. dollars), 140.31 billion yuan more than the same period last year, according to the NDRC.

Companies should seize Belt and Road opportunities: Cushman and Wakefield

Both Chinese and international companies should seize the opportunities offered by the Belt and Road Initiative, according to a report issued by global real estate services firm Cushman and Wakefield.

Since the initiative was proposed by China in 2013, governmental organs and companies from around the world have expressed their strong will to take part in it, the report said.

Some Chinese companies have increased their international competitiveness through self development and business management, while others sought global partnerships or foreign acquisitions to fill existing gaps between them and their global counterparts.

The number of overseas mergers and acquisitions executed by Chinese firms in 2016 increased by 21 percent from the previous year to reach 438, and the amount of actual investment involved grew to 215.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 148 percent than 2015, the report stated, quoting figures jointly issued this June by Shanghai-based advisory firm DealGlobe and Hurun, known for publishing an annual rich list. These deals were mainly made in the manufacturing, financial services and health sectors.

Business opportunities will arise for overseas companies, including outbound capital projects and infrastructure, especially in partnership with Chinese companies, and involvement in supplying equipment, technology and intellectual property, it also said, citing a report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers earlier this year.

The Belt and Road Initiative, also knows as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient trade routes.

Over 100 countries, regions and international organizations have expressed support for or participated in the initiative.

China’s survey-based jobless rate lowest since 2012: official

China’s job market is steadily expanding, with the survey-based unemployment rate falling to its lowest level since 2012, an official said Tuesday.

China’s nationwide survey-based unemployment rate stood at 4.83 percent in September, the lowest since 2012, Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed at a press conference.[Special coverage]

Some 9.74 million new jobs were created in China’s urban regions from January to August, which means the country has already fulfilled 88.5 percent of its official goal to create 11 million new jobs in 2017.

From 2013 to 2016, China’s surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities stabilized at around 5 percent.

The number of migrant workers leaving their hometowns rose 2.1 percent in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, according to Ning.

The NBS survey-based jobless rate is usually higher than the registered jobless rate released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, which came in at 3.95 percent by the end of the second quarter.

Creating more jobs to stabilize unemployment is a priority for the government as millions of workers face the prospect of redundancy due to mergers and reorganization in industries bogged down by overcapacity.

China aims to maintain the registered urban unemployment rate at under 4.5 percent for 2017.