Category News of China

Money talks in sluggish economy

During an economic downturn, job seekers tend to attach greater importance to the overall compensation and cash incentives they can earn, according to a report by the Hong Kong-founded executive recruitment firm MRIC.

Of the 3,820 professionals interviewed on the Chinese mainland, 35.9 percent requested an increase in overall compensation or commissions, which outweighed other relevant concerns, such as finding a clearer career track or having the opportunity to face more challenges, the report found.

Meanwhile, the number of Chinese mainland respondents dissatisfied with their current level of compensation rose from 54.2 percent last year to 57.8 percent in 2013. Only respondents from Taiwan reported a greater level of dissatisfaction with their current earnings.

A lack of satisfaction with compensation may be tied to mounting living costs and lower bonuses this year. Many people aim to earn higher salaries in order to improve their housing conditions and achieve a higher quality of life.

With a score of 99, Shanghai ranked 30th of 131 surveyed cities in terms of living cost in 2012, up 11 places from a year earlier, according to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit. It fell just short of matching New York, which scored 100. Just five years ago, Shanghai ranked 53rd on the list.

“Respondent sentiment is generally more conservative, with a lowering of job-change intentions from the previous year, while stress has taken its toll on professional talent, who are increasingly aware of their quality of life,” said Christine Raynaud, chief executive officer of MRIC.

Workers will change jobs if it makes financial sense, but many of them have become more averse to risk and require a major salary hike to make a move, according to the report.

Taking stock of China’s logistical shortfall

Employers in China face such a severe shortage of logistics staff that one British company is offering work to 20% more candidates than it has jobs.

Paul Brooks, sales director of Unipart Logistics, said that the company regularly offered employment to between 10% and 20% more candidates than it had jobs because they knew that within a week this number of candidates would take up job offers from other employers. The firm employs 250 staff in China.

At a press conference during a recent visit to Unipart in Oxford by a Chinese delegation of logistics and education officials to the UK, Brooks said that staff retention was also a major issue, with the industry experiencing an annual staff turnover of more than 50%. Even a small wage increase would entice employees to move to another employer. “They will leave for 30p more, they will just not turn up,” said Brooks.

Haoxiang Ren, vice-president of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, told Recruiter that in China “the skills shortage is for every subject and every position in the sector.”

Ren explained there was a fundamental mismatch between the demands of employers and what the Chinese education system is turning out. “Demand is like a pyramid,” he said, with many more lower level operative-type jobs at the bottom, and relatively few jobs for managers at the top.

Despite this, he explained that around 400 universities in China provided 100,000 graduates a year studying logistics as a major part of their degree, leading to a glut of people looking to enter the sector at managerial level.

The problem is made worse, “because more and more parents are looking for their children to go to university and not college”, he added.

In contrast, Ren said that only 90,000 graduates with a relevant qualification left 800 secondary vocational colleges (for 15-18-year-olds) — an insufficient number to fill the far more numerous lower-level roles. “It [the education system] doesn’t fit the nature of the industry demand,” he said.

Tech and execs see least talent movement in China

China’s technical workers in IT and engineering roles saw the lowest rate of people changing jobs in 2012 of any business function, at 18% and 24% respectively, followed by board-level staff at 27%.

The highest degree of movement was seen in government affairs (55%), construction (50%) and production (42%), according to Chinese recruitment firm RMG Selection.

A survey from the company of 2,000 Chinese workers shows that for 2013, 61% of IT workers have a greater desire to change jobs. Engineers (52%) were also seeing renewed keenness to move, as were production workers (57%) and supply chain professionals (52%).

The full Talent Flow Survey 2012-2013 is available via the RMG website. “http://www.rmgselection.com/downloads/RMG-China-Talent-flow-Survey-Report-2012-2013.pdf”

Insight on China’s college graduates’ employment report

The Chinese education consulting firm MyCOS has published its 2013 Chinese College Graduates’ Employment Annual Report. The report looks at the job situation of graduates from this year and last, who are just starting off their careers. The report offers important insights for Chinese students choosing their majors.

Q1: What does the report tell us?

A: Mangmang, what we have seen from the report is very alarming. The employment rates for 2013 are far lower than last year. By early April, only one out of three graduates with bachelor degrees have landed jobs. Just last year the employment rate was almost 50 percent in April, and over 90 percent by the end of the year.

For master’s degree graduates, the prospects look even gloomier. Only one of out four were recruited by early April. People are beginning to ask how much is your diploma worth in the job market. And interestingly, in sharp contrast to university students, vocational school graduates are having much less trouble moving into the labor market. We visited one leading vocational school, and were amazed at how easy it was for students to find jobs.

Rural youth encouraged to become self-employed

Many young people in rural China hold the belief that earning money in a city is the only way to be able to afford a home and family. Not Li Shuhua.

The 30-year-old, who was born in Xishan Village of Lianhua County in east China’s Jiangxi Province, decided to run his own ecological farm in his hometown after four years of work experience at horticultural companies in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces.

“I decided on the farm because of people’s growing awareness of food safety which has made green agricultural produce more competitive,” said Li, who was educated at Jiangxi University of Science and Technology.

Li’s farm covers an area of 1.3 hectares, primarily growing ecological grapes and breeding pigs with an annual income of about 200,000 yuan (32,660 U.S. dollars).

More than half of the 1,000 villagers in Xishan have swarmed to southeastern coastal cities to seek better-paid jobs in the past year.

This is typical of villages in China.

However, with the current record-high 6.99 million graduates struggling to secure decent jobs in cities, Li’s self-employment experience is an inspiration for many.

As the pressure of finding a job grows, more graduates are choosing to go back home to realize their dreams.

The Chinese government has promised to recruit more university graduates who have taken on leadership roles in the countryside in a bid to encourage more college students to work in rural communities after graduating.

About 10 to 12 percent of newly recruited public servants in the country this year will be college graduates who will have had experience of working as “village officials,” according to the State Administration of Civil Service.

The number of university students with official positions in rural communities is expected to increase to 600,000 by 2020 from the current 200,000, according to the administration.

Wu Yongming, vice chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said that more talent is needed in rural areas, especially those specializing in agricultural, medical and educational fields.

“In order to gather grassroots experience, it is also necessary for the Chinese youth to find employment or start a business in rural areas,” Wu said.

During talks with young representatives on Chinese Youth Day on May 4, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he pinned his hope on the Chinese youth for innovation and national advancement.

The president expects the young generation to make great accomplishments, and encouraged them to work at the grassroots and the front line in order to hone their skills and enhance abilities required for furthering their career.

“Young people should emancipate the mind, advance with the times, forge ahead and innovate so as to gather experience and make achievements,” he said.

Just like Li Shuhua.

Alibaba Plans Worldwide Intern Indoctrination Program

China’s Alibaba Group announced the launch of an intern training plan, aiming to recruit 102 interns around the world and provide one-on-one training by business leaders and executives within the organization.

According to Alibaba, interns who participate in this program should have dreams and positive energy. Those dreams do not need to be related to e-commerce, said Alibaba.

The internship will last for one to two months. The first batch will include about 30 people, who can be students or those already having some working experience. Once admitted, they will gain meals, accommodation as well as a salary.

To ensure the efficiency of the internship, the classes of the interns will be led by Alibaba’s executives and business leaders. In addition, those executives and business leaders will provide one-on-one trainings to interns. The performance in training interns will reportedly influence the promotion of the executives.

Alibaba said they will not require those interns to stay in the company after the training. They hope the interns can gain something from the training and become outstanding rural teachers, cooks, lawyers, entrepreneurs, or participate in politics in the future. The leader of this internship program said that during the program, the interns can learn the unique culture of a Alibaba and the company hopes more young people can access the ongoing huge changes of Chinese economy.

Antal International reports strong performance among professionals.

The Chinese professional job market is still booming this quarter, with higher employer activity levels and more focus on employee’s work efficiency. The news comes from Antal International’s latest ‘Global Snapshot’ survey which asked 10,000 organisations in major markets all over the world whether they were currently hiring or firing at professional and managerial level. The survey also seeks to identify whether businesses planned to hire or fire in the coming quarter.

According to the survey a massive 75 per cent of Chinese employers are recruiting or replacing staff at senior levels, despite only 54 per cent saying they expected to do so in the previous Q1 edition of the Snapshot. This shows a significant increase in hiring confidence for replacement and growth positions, as employers clarify their needs for the year.

However, the downside of the active recruitment market is that there is also a clear increase in the number of companies firing employees. The region has demonstrated high recruitment growth over the past years but this has occurred alongside increased labour costs so overall employee performance is becoming much more important which in turn is driving replacement recruitment. This quarter is seeing the number of businesses letting staff go rising from 14 per cent to 26 per cent, and firing levels are expected to further increase to 28 per cent in the next three months, five per cent higher than APAC’s average. According to Antal’s analysis however, this should only be considered together with similarly high hiring levels, and a stabilising job market, where employers now look for higher quality talents, rather than quantity.

“Jobs and opportunities are still available, but there is an increase in caution among job seekers and employers,” observes James Darlington, Antal’s Head of Asia. “The market is constantly evolving and companies are adapting to these changes and replacing people with the necessary new skill sets. Sales and Marketing remain strongly in demand within companies as they focus on acquiring market share with tier 2 / 3 / 4 cities in China. There remains to be strong hiring within the back office functions as companies improve their internal capabilities.”

Indeed, it appears growth is not consistent across the region. Some industries are booming, while some are being more conservative in their growth. The salary increase over the last two years brought more disposable income to the population and the consumer led sectors are performing very strongly. Among this quarter’s hiring champions, the survey revealed: Automotive industry (92 per cent), Retail and Luxury goods (91 per cent), and Healthcare specialists (88 per cent). Demand in these areas is expected to remain high, with Sales and Marketing, IT and Accounting, as well as R&D specialists highly sought after in the country.

From the Chinese press

After failing 41 job interviews, a resident of Wuhan, Hubei province, guessed that she was being discriminated against by potential employers because of her marital status – married but without any child – so she decided to conceal the fact to get a job. Many netizens have narrated similar tales, says an article in Chongqing Morning Post. Excerpts:
The Wuhan resident couldn’t find favor with any of the potential employers not because she is not qualified enough but because she is married but doesn’t yet have a child. That she is married but doesn’t have a child means she is eligible for a three-month maternity leave after being recruited, during which the employer has to pay her salary and welfare benefits.
Since companies without a sense of social responsibility see this as a financial loss and, therefore, are reluctant to recruit women like the Wuhan resident, many women have had to choose between a job and a child.
Many woman workers in a condition similar to the Wuhan resident’s find it difficult to land a job. To protect women’s reproductive rights, laws such as the Labor Law and the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women advocate “fair employment” and make discrimination in recruitment a punishable offense. For example, employers should not discriminate against woman employees, irrespective of their marital, social or ethnic status.
We can understand that employers want to lower personnel cost and increase productivity. But they should not infringe on the legitimate rights of women to get a job. Through enhanced annual supervision and inspection, the authorities should make sure that employers stop using unreasonable rules to recruit employees and that qualified candidates get jobs.
Workers’ safety comes first
A fire in a slaughterhouse in Dehui, Jilin province, killed 120 people and injured 77. And although relevant authorities have conducted specific safety inspections in densely populated places, they have come at a huge cost, says an article in Changjiang Daily. Excerpts:
Tragedies like mine accidents, fires and explosions have been reported one after another in recent times. Investigations into such accidents show that grassroots workers are more prone to getting injured or dying in such accidents.
Even the healthiest workers could become the victim of an occupational disease or industrial accident after working to exhaustion under harsh and dangerous conditions. And we know how difficult it is for workers to protect their legitimate rights and interests in case of accidents.
A report on the condition of new-generation industrial workers’ spiritual and cultural life shows the three main problems they face: A monotonous cultural life because of lack of entertainment channels, a narrow dating circle, and increasing pressure of work. In fact, not only the new generation, but almost every worker suffers from mental discomfort and limited exposure to spirituality. Most workers still have to strive to make a decent living instead of being content with the arrangements.
The problem lies in the daily situation of workers. Whether or not the production environment of a factory is safe and comfortable is closely related to workers’ labor rights and interests. If it is hard for the authorities to guarantee the safety of workers, it would be impossible to discuss their higher interests.

Taking stock of China’s logistical shortfall

Employers in China face such a severe shortage of logistics staff that one British company is offering work to 20% more candidates than it has jobs.

Paul Brooks, sales director of Unipart Logistics, said that the company regularly offered employment to between 10% and 20% more candidates than it had jobs because they knew that within a week this number of candidates would take up job offers from other employers. The firm employs 250 staff in China.

At a press conference during a recent visit to Unipart in Oxford by a Chinese delegation of logistics and education officials to the UK, Brooks said that staff retention was also a major issue, with the industry experiencing an annual staff turnover of more than 50%. Even a small wage increase would entice employees to move to another employer. “They will leave for 30p more, they will just not turn up,” said Brooks.

Haoxiang Ren, vice-president of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, told Recruiter that in China “the skills shortage is for every subject and every position in the sector.”

Ren explained there was a fundamental mismatch between the demands of employers and what the Chinese education system is turning out. “Demand is like a pyramid,” he said, with many more lower level operative-type jobs at the bottom, and relatively few jobs for managers at the top.

Despite this, he explained that around 400 universities in China provided 100,000 graduates a year studying logistics as a major part of their degree, leading to a glut of people looking to enter the sector at managerial level.

The problem is made worse, “because more and more parents are looking for their children to go to university and not college”, he added.

In contrast, Ren said that only 90,000 graduates with a relevant qualification left 800 secondary vocational colleges (for 15-18-year-olds) — an insufficient number to fill the far more numerous lower-level roles. “It [the education system] doesn’t fit the nature of the industry demand,” he said.

Less Chinese students taking tough college test amid job slump

The number of Chinese students taking the country’s tough national college entrance test has declined by 10 per cent amid reports that most of last year’s seven million graduates struggled to get gainful jobs.

Around 9.12 million high school students are registered to sit for China’s national college entrance examination called ‘Gaokao’ which is being held all over the country today and tomorrow.

Despite the huge numbers, figures for those taking the test have declined year-on-year for five years, from the peak of 10.5 million candidates in 2008 to 9.15 million in 2012.

“Every year, about 10 per cent of high school seniors don’t take the Gaokao, because some are pre-enrolled in university and some study abroad or go to work. The proportion hasn’t fluctuated greatly in recent years,” Xu Mei, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education told the media ahead of the test, regarded as toughest in China.

But the dwindling numbers are also attributed to the reports that the Chinese graduates who were in much demand when the country grew at over 10 per cent in the last several years are now struggling to get placements as the growth declined to 7.8 per cent last year.

The IMF also predicted that China’s GDP may further decline to 7.5 per cent or less.

A recent report by state-run CCTV said the spectre of unemployment is haunting the youth as Chinese colleges are churning out over seven million graduates a year, far higher than previous years due to extensive development of educational infrastructure.

With job vacancies scarce, 2013 has been dubbed as “the toughest year of employment” for seven million graduates, the largest number since 1949, state-run Global Times reported.

In a bid to address the fears, Chinese President Xi Jinping recently attended a job fair to instil confidence while Premier Li Keqiang said high priority would be accorded to create more jobs.

Chinese economists directly relate GDP numbers to employment prospects as every percentage of economic growth produces few million jobs and the employment market shrinks if the economy declines with firms shedding jobs to cut costs.

Education experts said that some students from rural areas may also not bother with the Gaokao, as they see no hope of entering colleges, cannot afford the tuition fees and worry about finding jobs after graduation.

The average cost for four years’ university study is about 75,000 yuan (USD 12,217) while the per capita income in rural areas was 7,917 yuan a year in 2012.

“For most rural families, supporting a college student is a big investment. They must consider both input and output,” Lao Kaisheng, a professor with Capital Normal University said.

However, Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said the bleak employment outlook is unlikely to mean more students will forgo the Gaokao.

“There is no better choice than the Gaokao, so most students will still attend universities even if they are uncertain about their future,” said Xiong.