Archives September 2008

Surplus labor pool shrinks before future revival

China’s labor market is in the pincer grip of dwindling surplus labor on one hand and growing unemployment on the other as a result of mass closures of outdated factories.

Apparently contradictory, these two rising trends have come to define the labor market of late. Employers are finding it difficult to find suitable workers and employees are scratching heads in their search for ideal positions.

In terms of labor supply, which has long been seen as a factor in the nation’s economic miracle, China has already entered a complicated era of a dwindling workforce and a shortage of skilled workers.

But don’t panic.

Cai Fang, a senior think tank economist from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, assured the Chinese leadership while correcting the widely accepted perception that China’s labor supply is still endlessly abundant.

According to some economists, the number of surplus laborers in rural areas alone surpasses 150 million, equivalent to half of the US’s total population.

But Cai insisted that this figure was inaccurate. He said 52 million would be a more realistic estimate.

Cai reported the research result when China’s highest leaders lent their ears to the country’s top-level economists in July to find solutions to the current economic headaches.

“Our research finding has revealed that surplus labor is far less than we expected,” said Cai, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

The number of surplus laborers is declining in rural regions. Cai assured the leadership, currently puzzled by rising inflation, energy supply and possible economic slowdown, that by 2020, China’s labor supply would increase at an encouraging pace.

To ensure a healthier economy, Cai said China needs to upgrade its economic structure and further improve the treatment of laborers and equip them with new skills and knowledge.

Since last year, the government has been determined to close the labor-intensive but energy-crunching factories. The impact is obvious as many of China’s factories are labor-intensive. This will continuously result in unemployment, said Liu Junsheng, a senior researcher from the Labor-Wage Institute affiliated to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Quality Supervisor (Textile)

Company introduction:
Our client belongs to world famous retailer groups’ Union specialized in different kinds of store products. Our client is one of the world’s largest sourcing organizations, serving some of the largest retailers in the world. Based on what they are good at, they consciously make strategies that continue to build, maintain and utilize their unique competences and capabilities to ensure sustainable growth.
They set up their Asia sourcing centre in Shanghai, and their office here is in charge of sourcing & quality control of the suppliers. They are now looking for a senior merchandiser for their textile department who is directly report to their Asia Sourcing director who comes from France.
Location: Shanghai

Requirements:
1. Bachelor degree or above.
2. Minimum five years work experience in textile quality. Be familiar with Domestic and International purchasing.
3. Strong with quality audit and quality controlling for the suppliers. Initiative, creative, flexibility and willing to work under pressure.
4. Excellent at communication and interpersonal skills
5. Fluency in English, both in oral and written.
6. Able to work under pressure.

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to:
‘topjob_oth051sh#dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject MUST you plus the position name ?in either En or Ch ?

Spike in US unemployment claims

THE number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level since September 2001, as hurricanes kept residents of Texas and Louisiana out of work.

Initial jobless claims increased by 32,000 to 493,000 in the week that ended last Saturday, from 461,000 in the prior week, Bloomberg News reported the United States government as saying yesterday.

Hurricanes Ike and Gustav added 50,000 claims, the department said.

The figures may reinforce concern that consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the United States economy, will falter.

Growth is already slowing due to the housing slump and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

“The labor market is clearly in recession,” said Steven Wood, president of California-based Insight Economics LLC.

The number of people continuing to collect jobless benefits climbed close to a five-year high of 3.542 million in the week ending on September 13, from 3.479 million in the prior week.

Foreign Firms Given Labor Contract Deadline

More than 100 foreign-funded companies in Shenzhen have been ordered to sign collective contracts with their employees by Dec 5, the local trade union federation said on Monday.

Zhang Youquan, director of the legal affairs department of the Shenzhen Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), said at a press conference that the firms, which include McDonald’s, Carrefour and Ikea, should start negotiations with their employees within 10 working days (of Monday).

The talks should encompass such issues as pay, working hours, paid vacation, social security and welfare, and agreement should be reached by Nov 14, he said.

Contracts should then be signed before Dec 5, he said.

“Our proposal is protected by the law,” Zhang said.

“Companies that fail to respond within 10 working days or turn down the offer will be regarded as violating the law,” he said, without elaborating on what punishments those who break the law might face.

The federation will also publicly condemn any company that tries to delay the negotiations without good reason, he said, again without elaborating.

Employers should give due consideration to the rising cost of living when negotiating pay rises with their workers, he said.

“Basically the average pay rise should be based on GDP growth and the CPI (consumer price index),” he said.

Li Shaomei, vice-chairman of SFTU, said the latest push for collective contracts comes on the heels of US retailing giant Wal-Mart signing contracts with employees at its 108 unionized stores across the country.

“Wal-Mart has set an example, which is a milestone for collective agreements among foreign-funded companies,” she said.

The federation will offer training, if required, to representatives of management teams and trade unions before they begin negotiations, she said.

According to figures from the SFTU, since collective negotiations were introduced to Shenzhen in 1995, more than 40,000 firms have signed contracts with more than 4 million employees.

Wal-mart became the first foreign-funded firm to do so in July, after 18 months of tough negotiations, Li said.

Olympic volunteers well-received at Beijing job fair, newspaper says

Job hunters with Olympic experience got a positive reception at a large-scale job fair here, Monday’s China Youth Daily reported.

The fair on Sunday, the first after the Games, drew as many as 30,000 applicants.

More than 5,000 positions were offered by about 600 companies, including many big names such as China Life Insurance Company, Lenovo and Yum! Brands Inc.

Although not stated as a requirement, applicants with Olympic service experience were preferred by employers, the newspaper said.

An employee from Yum! who declined to be identified said that Olympic volunteers had a better sense of service, which companies needed.

China’s Hainan Airlines Co. Ltd and Grand China Air Co. Ltd will recruit 300 Olympic volunteers as stewards and 50 as managers, said Zhu Yimin, President of Hainan Airlines and Grand China Air last week.

He said Hainan Airlines and Grand China Air will introduce an “Olympic air crew” on selected routes, carrying forward the “Olympic spirit and offering service of high quality to customers”.

China issues regulation to clear labor contract law misunderstanding

BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) — China’s State Council, the country’s Cabinet, issued an implementation regulation for Labor Contract Law here on Thursday in an effort to clarify confusion surrounding the law.

The new law, which was put into effect on Jan. 1, was hailed as a landmark step in protecting employee’s rights. But many complained the law increased a company’s operational cost as it overemphasized protection of workers.

One of the most debated terms was one that entitled employees of at least 10 years’ standing to sign contracts without specific time limits. Some employers believed the “no-fixed-term contract” would bring a heavy burden to them and lower company vitality.

“By issuing the regulation, we hope to make it clear that labor contracts with no fixed termination dates did not amount to lifetime contracts,” a Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council official told Xinhua.

The regulation listed 14 conditions under which an employer can terminate a labor contract. These included an employee’s incompetence to live up to the job requirements, serious violations of regulations and dereliction of duty.

Another 13 circumstances were also included in the regulation, under which an employee could terminate his or her contract with an employer, including delayed pay and forced labor.

Compensation should be given if employers terminate the contract lawfully. Employers should double the amount of compensation if they terminated a contract at their own will. No further financial compensation was required, according to the regulation.

China’s top legislative body, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, adopted the Labor Contract Law in June2007, which was followed by a string of staff-sacking scandals.

The best known was the “voluntary resignation” scheme by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., the country’s telecom network equipment giant.

The Guangdong Province-based company asked its staff who had worked for eight consecutive years to hand in “voluntary resignations.” Staff would have to compete for their posts and sign new labor contracts with the firm once they were re-employed.

Huawei later agreed to suspend the controversial scheme after talks with the All China Federation of Trade Unions.

The NPC Standing Committee said on Thursday it would start a law enforcement inspection at the end of September in 15 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

The Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council issued a draft of the implementation regulation on May 8 to solicit public opinion. By May 20, the office had received 82,236 responses. On Sept. 3, the State Council approved the regulation.

HK job market remains stable

HONG Kong’s employment remained stable for the quarter ending August with unemployment at 3.2 percent and underemployment at 1.9 percent, the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong said yesterday.

Total employment rose by 13,100 to 3,546,300 from June to August while the labor force grew by 17,600 to an all-time high of 3,675,400.

The number of jobless people rose by 4,500 to 129,100 while the number of underemployed fell by 900 to 69,000.

Unemployment fell in the decoration and maintenance, communications and manufacturing sectors, while there were more jobless people in sanitary services, education services and welfare and community services sectors.

Underemployment falls were mainly seen in foundation and superstructure construction and retail trade sectors, offsetting the rises in the decoration and maintenance, and miscellaneous personal services sectors.

Hong Kong Secretary for Labor and Welfare Matthew Cheung said the unemployment rate has remained unchanged notwithstanding the expansion in labor supply. Cheung warned that there was no ground for optimism in the face of global financial turbulence.

“With the further downside risks to the already challenging external environment, the uncertainties clouding over the near term outlook for the local economy have increased,” he said.

He added that the government will closely monitor the impact on job creation and employment while continuing to enhance training, retraining and employment services.

Indian salaries likely to go up 16% in ’09

Salaries in India are expected to increase by 16 per cent in 2009, one of the highest in the Asia-Pacific region driven by strong economic growth and pressure on employers due to soaring inflation, a latest report says.

As per a report by the Hong Kong-based compensation firm HR Business Solutions pay increases in the Asia-Pacific region are likely grow even as the economies are expected to be impacted by the global slowdown.

“The forecast pay increase in India averaging 16 per cent is one of the highest among all the countries,” the report stated.

The HRBS 2009 pay increase forecast is based primarily on four economic factors — GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, manpower demand and past pay increase trends.

Elaborating further it said that the Indian economy is reported to be cooling, but still it is expected to achieve a growth rate of 7-8 per cent in 2008, which is among the strongest in the region after China.

“In addition, it has the fourth highest inflation rate of over 12 per cent in 2008 which increases pay rise pressures on employers. Labour demand is still robust and there is a lack of sufficient supply of the skills-set required by India’s rapidly growing services, manufacturing, construction and retail industries to boot,” the HRBS report added.

Economic growth rates in Asia are mostly forecast to be moderately lower in 2008 relative to 2007, while inflation rate across the Asia-Pacific region has soared to an all-time high.

“In many of the Asian countries, demand for manpower continues and in some cases, while general unemployment rate remains high, the labour market is extremely tight for qualified employees, for example, India, China and Vietnam,” it stated.

Besides, in some developed economies such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, while the unemployment rate is low, the demand for people has been strong.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is the other country which is forecast to see a higher double-digit rise in salaries of about 17 per cent in 2009.

The country’s inflation rate of more than 16 per cent is the next highest in Asia after Vietnam and firms in Sri Lanka are hiring and facing challenges in recruiting and retaining skilled human capital.

Most of the neighbouring countries of India – Pakistan, China and Bangladesh are forecast to post around 11 per cent of expected pay increase.

In 2008, the salary increase in India had averaged at 14.9 per cent.

Other Asia-Pacific countries like China, Vietnam and Indonesia are forecast to see a rise of 11 per cent, 12.4 per cent and 12.7 per cent, respectively in 2009.

Earlier, in a separate report on Asian compensations, global HR consultancy Mercer had forecast that India was likely to witness over 14 per cent increase in salaries annually for the next three years as the corporates were facing shortage of talent.

The Mercer report had also stated that India, Vietnam and Indonesia were the only three countries in the Asia-Pacific region which are likely to see a double-digit increase in salaries until 2011.

ERP Specialist (it130nj)

Job Title: ERP Specialist
Job Description:
Company introduction: The client is a European company, which has become the world leader in automotive and machine tool markets during past 50 years, by offering its customers a combination of advanced products, market knowledge, and commitment to long term global partnerships. Building on these foundations, it has created an international organization able to deliver application, design, and service support virtually anywhere in the world. Its growth has been characterized by a strong commitment to research and development and close cooperation with customers in the automotive, machine tool, appliance, compressor, bearing, electric motors, aerospace, computer, and other industries. For the quick development in China, they are now looking for the talents to join them.

Report To: Manufacture Director in Nanjing
Location: Nanjing

Responsibilities:
1. Global Management of Information Technology activities, in order to guarantee efficiency and security of Company I.T. Systems (applications, servers, networks, user workstations)
2. Provide user support, either for applications either for systems
3. Provide contacts with local companies for IT services
4. Be the referring of HQ IT department
5. Guarantee constant updating of Company I.T. systems, taking care of global management, solving problems, suggesting actions for improving performance
6. Provide for the safety of IT assets, logical and physical, with regular actions and checks (i.e. data backup, inspections, logging analysis, etc).
7. Coordinate activities of IT services with specialized companies
8. Provide initial setup of workstation and peripherals, keep them efficient, ensure technical support
9. Analyze and verify users needs, giving solutions and assistance either for applications either for devices
10. Help with the ERP system application and be responsible for the maintenance

Qualifications:
1. At least 4 years IT Department working experience.
2. Knowledge of: Operating systems (Linux and Windows)
3. Programming languages and development tools (i.e. Excel macro)
4. Database (i.e. Oracle, Access)
5. Outstanding knowledge of Oracle E-Business Suite in terms of all processes involved (Finance/Distribution/Manufacturing)
6. Hardware and network devices
7. Good communication skills.
8. Fluent in speaking and writing English and Mandarin.
* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English to: ‘topjob_it130nj@dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject MUST you plus the position name ?in either En or Ch ?

10 pilots told to pay $1.17m to leave airline

The courts have ordered 10 pilots of China Eastern Airlines to compensate their employer a total of nearly 8 million yuan ($1.17 million) for leaving their jobs, local media has reported.

The Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court ruled on Thursday that each of the pilots was to compensate the airline’s branch in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, 700,000 to 1 million yuan, depending on their service term and the training programs they received, the Changjiang Times reported.

Zhang Hua, who was ordered to pay 700,000 yuan to the airline, told the paper that the ruling was of no surprise to him.

Still, he said he did not regret leaving China Eastern.

“I don’t want to live under constant high pressure,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

“I want to work for a company that is humane and that has a relaxed atmosphere.”

In May last year, 13 pilots of the Wuhan branch of China Eastern handed in their resignations and were asked to pay a total compensation of more than 100 million yuan. The employer claimed that the money was to compensate it for the investments it made to train the pilots.

In August, the provincial labor arbitration committee ordered the 13 pilots to pay more than 9 million yuan to compensate the airline for their departure.

Daunted by the large amount, three of the pilots reportedly withdrew their resignations. The remaining 10 pilots brought their case to the Qiaokou District People’s Court.

The court later announced that the 10 pilots should compensate their employer a total of nearly 10 million yuan. The airline lodged an appeal to the Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court, which made the final ruling this Thursday.

Zhang Qihuai, a legal expert with the China University of Political Science and Law, said he had told the pilots in a legal consultation that the compensation being ordered by the courts was reasonable, since the amount was about what the company had paid for training the pilots.

“Most State-owned carriers in China sign tenure contracts with pilots to prevent them from leaving the company,” Zhang said.

Company officials in Wuhan and Shanghai declined to comment on the ruling on Friday.