Recruiting in China

TAIWAN'S jobless rate hit a record 5.75 percent in February despite a multibillion dollar plan to create jobs and cushion the economic downturn, regulators said yesterday.

Of the total 624,000 unemployed workers, 53 percent lost their jobs due to company closures or layoffs.

Taiwan's electronics sector - the heart of its export-dependent economy - has been hit especially hard as demand has dropped sharply from the United States and other industrialized countries.

Labor Council Chairwoman Wang Ju-shiuan put part of the blame for the rising unemployment rate ?? up from 5.31 percent in January - on a failure to implement public works projects as scheduled.

Taiwan unveiled a NT$320-billion (US$9.5 billion) plan in early February to help create some 150,000 jobs in 2009.

Taiwan's economy shrank 8.36 percent in the final quarter last year, following a minus 1-percent drop in the third quarter.

JUST over a third of employers in China, or 34 percent, plan to increase staff numbers in the first quarter, 10 percent fewer than last quarter.

However, the figure remains the highest in Asia, according to a report released yesterday, and many respondents remain optimistic about their company's performance in 2009, with 47 percent saying it would be "excellent" or "good."

The Hudson Report surveyed the expectations of almost 3,000 key executives from multinational organization in all major industry sectors in Asia, with 858 of them based in China.

The steepest decline in hiring expectation was in the banking and financial services sector, from 50 percent last quarter to 29 percent this quarter.

The media, pubic relations and advertising sector also reported falling hiring expectations, from 33 percent last quarter to 18 percent.

Last year some 61 percent of respondents had expected to increase hiring in the first quarter.

The percentage who forecast a head count reduction rose from 1 percent in 2008 to 8 percent this quarter.

The consumer sector was the most optimistic about the future, with 62 percent forecasting excellent or good performance in 2009, while respondents in information technology and telecom were the least confident, with 15 percent believing their company's prospects would be poor this year.

Despite the decline in hiring expectations, almost half of the respondents were willing to pay salary increases of more than 10 percent to attract new people at management level, of which 17 percent of respondents expected pay increases of more than 20 percent, a significantly higher figure than for any other market in Asia, including Japan and Singapore.

Across all sectors, bonuses of more than 10 percent of the employees' yearly salary were forecast by 32 percent of respondents, of which 6 percent said they would pay bonuses of more than 20 percent. Some 12 percent of respondents were not planning to pay a bonus, 6 percent more than in 2008's first quarter.

Angie Eagan, Hudson's Shanghai general manager, said that employers could now pay lower salary increases to attract new managerial hires and were actively recruiting talented candidates displaced by the downturn.

About 1.24 million Chinese college students will graduate without jobs that require their qualifications this year, Tian Chengping, head of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, has warned.
A total of 4.13 million students graduated from higher education institutions this year, 750,000 more than last year, said Tian.

Tian said the government had set up a mechanism to provide guidance and training for unemployed graduates.

Only 22 percent of China's new jobs last year were for college graduates, according to a ministry study of 114 urban labor markets.

Tian said the country should create more jobs in the process of economic development and urged college graduates to work in grassroots units and undeveloped areas where they were most wanted.

With an average 10 percent annual economic growth over the past two decades, China was no longer able to accommodate surplus labor, with the official unemployment rate standing at 4.1 percent in the first nine months.

The demand for college graduates was down by 22 percent in 24 provinces and 15 major cities from last year, said a report issued by the Ministry of Personnel in March.

A survey showed 52.14 percent of bachelors considered lack of social experience as the biggest obstacle in finding work.

Colleges and universities should organize internships to prepare students for employment, said Lin Zeyan, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council, at a forum this month.

The country needed to develop the service sector and promote small and medium sized enterprises to create more jobs, said Mo Rong, deputy chief of the Labor Science Research Institute of the ministry.

In an unfortunate reversal of fortune, more than 70 percent of upcoming graduates have yet to secure a job.

"Normally about 70 percent of graduates have job offers in March, but now the situation is completely upside down," Wu Xiaohui, senior campus recruitment consultant with Shanghai Foreign Service Co Ltd (SFSC), told China Daily yesterday.

According to SFSC's report, two-thirds of students have sent out more than 30 resumes since last autumn, with one frenzied student even sending out 600 copies to recruiters, Wu said. "The financial turmoil is forcing us to take advantage of every possibility to find a job because many companies have stopped recruiting," said Xiao Qin, 22, a student from Shanghai International Studies University.

Jia Dong, a computer major graduate, said, "I have hardly missed a chance to hand out my resume since last year - job fairs, campus recruitment sessions or even by e-mail. With more than 120 copies of my resume out there I think I deserve better."

The report, released Saturday by SFSC, the city's largest employment agency, surveyed 519 undergraduate and graduate students from 12 local universities.

"The time after the Chinese Spring Festival, especially March, is usually the peak season for fresh graduates to sign job contracts with employers," Wu Xiaohui, senior campus recruitment consultant with SFSC, said.

According to another survey by SFSC, about 55 percent of the city's 104 multinational corporations didn't intend to recruit new staff this year amid the deepening recession.

Among those who plan to hire, half will recruit fewer than 10 people, compared with an average of 50 to 100 people in previous years.

Earlier this month, the SFSC teamed up with 157 multinational corporations to offer 1,000 vocational training opportunities, 1,000 internship positions and 1,000 job openings for graduates in the city to help ease the shrinking job market.

The recession we’re in will have long-run consequences for employment and consequently recruiting. The world is about to see the biggest increase in unemployment in decades. The World Bank and the IMF predict that global trade will contract at the fastest rate since 1930 and global economic output will drop for the first time since the Second World War. Employment is a lagging indicator of problems in the wider economy, so unemployment will continue to rise even if economies start to recover today. The consensus estimate among economists is that in the developed world average unemployment will exceed 10% before the end of 2010.

There are glimmers of hope. Inventories have fallen to such low levels that production will have to be increased just to meet the current level of demand. The fall in consumption is beginning to level out. In the U.S., auto dealer and homebuilder surveys are heading up. Japanese automakers have announced production increases. A broader indicator of an upturn — JPMorgan’s global manufacturing index — posted a second consecutive gain in February, and its new-orders index is rising. A realtor friend just wrote that she has five closings this month. 5. F-i-v-e. 5. Way to go.

What Will Emerge?
Regardless of when we emerge from this situation, there are some major changes in the employment landscape that will change recruiting in terms of where it occurs and how it is done. Where recruiting occurs will depend on where there is growth — somewhat debatable but getting clearer. Where it will not occur is in finance and housing construction; they will not return to past levels for a very long time. Also, if you work in an industry that’s heavily dependent on exports, then don’t expect an upturn either. Domestic demand is also falling overseas, and countries will increasingly strive to protect their domestic industries, further reducing the need for imports.

Where?
A recovery will be weak: losses in asset values and the need to reduce debt will all but guarantee that. But there will still be pockets of growth. These will be largely in infrastructure, IT, education, healthcare, government, and energy.

Infrastructure will be an early winner because so much stimulus and other funds are being directed at it — not just in the U.S. but also overseas. In particular, India and China are channeling billions of dollars at infrastructure projects to both boost employment and enhance economic activity. That means industries that support infrastructure — heavy equipment, architecture, cement, safety equipment, etc. will see near-immediate upturn in demand.

IT and engineering are perennial job creators, and will remain a source of employment for recruiters. For the simple reason that supply cannot match demand, a problem that will be exacerbated by restrictions on companies receiving stimulus funds from hiring foreign workers. This gap is even wider overseas. In India and China, compensation in IT is estimated to increase this year by 11% and 8% respectively because of the extreme shortage of qualified professionals.

Education will see jobs growth because of three factors: 1) large cohorts of teachers reaching retirement age; 2) a massive expansion in funding for education and student aid in the current federal budget; and 3) large increases in enrollment in higher education by people unable to find work.

Healthcare is another engine of job growth. Enough has been written elsewhere on the shortage of nurses, doctors, etc. that it doesn’t need to be repeated here. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also predicts an increase in social services jobs as a swelling number of retirees check-in for medical care.

Government payrolls at the federal level will swell to accommodate the administrative needs created by the vast expansions of regulatory authority being proposed — over banking, transportation, education, labor, and healthcare. The situation is likely to be the opposite at the state level where most states find themselves facing huge budget shortfalls.

Energy in general and green energy in particular will see significant growth. Biofuels, wind energy, and solar all will benefit from new investments and tax incentives. Consequently jobs that are related — research, infrastructure, maintenance, and sales can expect to benefit. However, the number of jobs in these industries is small to begin with, so the overall impact may not be much.

Interestingly, much of the increase in employment is expected to occur in small businesses and startups. One impact of a recession is that more people start businesses because they can’t find work. With expansions in federal grants for some of the above industries, expect to see a lot of new companies emerge. Also expect to see geographical shifts in areas of employment growth. California and New York continue to shed jobs as employers move away because of high taxes and burdensome state mandates. The beneficiaries are many Midwestern and southern states that have low taxes and fewer restrictions.

Recruiting will become more difficult in this new landscape that emerges. Unemployment is not evenly distributed, and for many of the industries mentioned above there is not an abundance of unemployed talent. The employed are also less interested in changing jobs in an uncertain economic climate and will likely remain so for years. Finally, mobility for many is restricted by their inability to sell their houses. Many people will be forced to delay retirement, but that will not solve the supply problem. Many of the new jobs that will be created cannot be easily filled with skills available in the current labor pool.

How?
Changes in how recruiting is done are harder to predict, but some trends can be discerned. Given that a recovery will be weak, employers are more likely to turn to part-time and contract recruiters than have full-time staffs. This will be reinforced because much of the growth in jobs is expected to occur in small and medium-size businesses that have no need or cannot support full-time recruiters. An increase in needs for sourcing, as opposed to full-service recruiting, will occur as employers seek to minimize costs.

Technology will need to adapt. The major boards are not designed for use by the occasional recruiter. It’s likely that products and services targeting small-businesses will be where we see most changes in recruiting technology.

The Legend of the Phoenix
What we’re experiencing is known in economic theory as creative destruction. Jobs are destroyed and new ones emerge. In the past it has been a somewhat gradual transition, but not this time. In past downturns the mood has never been so sour. In 1990 and 2001 most saw the recession as a slow-down, a readjustment, perhaps even a necessary realignment of the business cycle — something to be concerned about not a lot. The future was bright. After all, this is America. But this time is different. It shows up in many little ways. Several people I know have asked that we use Skype to talk to lower their phone bills; that they’ve cancelled their magazine subscriptions and only read online; that they’ve changed their home page from CNN to the BBC because there’s less negative news. Larger numbers of friends than I’ve ever seen are online late at night and available to chat. Someone I know to be an eternal optimist wrote to me that the American dream was an illusion and they don’t believe it in any more. Much has gone wrong if it has come to this.

This time it’s like the legend of the Phoenix. It lives for a thousand years and once that time is over, it builds its own funeral pyre, and throws itself into the flames. As it dies, it is reborn and rises from the ashes to live another thousand years. We’re at the end of the thousand years.

Times are tough. Even those companies that are doing reasonably well are cutting their recruiting teams by a minimum of 30% to a maximum of 90%, and tightening up expenses to the absolute barest minimum.

Half of these cuts are probably necessary anyway, the balance most likely an overreaction to the dismal economic conditions most companies are now facing.

There is an expectation that along with the cuts these recruiting departments need to drastically improve their productivity by 30%-50%, almost overnight.

The good news is that while most corporate recruiters are working hard, the majority are not working smart.

As a result, getting 50% or 100% productivity gains isn’t that hard to do. With this in mind, here are some things recruiting leaders can do to increase overall productivity by at least 100%.

An Almost Endless Stream of Ideas on How to Increase Corporate Recruiting Department Productivity by Over 100%
Only hire recruiters who are, or can become, partners with their hiring managers. Recruiters who are partners with their clients get more time to discuss real job needs, they send out fewer candidates, make more hires, and overcome natural hiring manager resistance to see top candidates who don’t fit the bill on paper. Partners make twice as many placements per month than recruiters who are perceived as vendors to their clients, so this is a huge productivity opportunity.
Make sure your recruiters are competent to do the work assigned. One way to increase productivity is to ensure all of your recruiters are as good as those in the top 10% on your team. (Contact me if you’d like to check out our new online recruiter assessment tool we’ve created with Profiles International.)
Make sure every recruiter understands the jobs they’re filling. Sadly, most recruiters don’t know much about the jobs they’re representing. Whether it’s a call center in Chicago, a sales rep in San Jose, or a J2EE architect in Ashtabula, recruiters need to know what drives on-the-job success, why the job is critical to the company, and why a top person should consider it.
Make sure your recruiters totally understand their target market. Recruiters need to be subject-matter experts regarding the job, the industry, and especially the needs of their ideal “target” candidates. Creating candidate personas is the first step, including demographics, associations, first- and second-degree networks, conferences, recognition awards, academic connections, and motivating needs. This allows them to write compelling ads, post them in the best places, know exactly who to call, what to say, how to get great referrals, and how to convince the best people your job is the best of the bunch.
Make sure your recruiters know how to recruit. Recruiting means getting more candidates interested at the beginning, ensuring that few drop out in the middle, and 95% of all offers are accepted on fair terms. Effective applicant control is at the core of this and most recruiters don’t even know what this even means. Do you know how many candidates you’ve lost because your recruiters dropped the ball somewhere in the process?
Make sure your recruiters are respected by the candidates they represent. If recruiters aren’t seen as subject-matter experts and career advisors by their candidates, you’re losing some great people before the process even begins. You’ll get a good sense of this by calculating how many “A” level candidates your recruiters uncover and place on a typical search. If it’s not 70% or more, you’ve found a huge productivity improvement opportunity.
Make sure your recruiters can accurately assess candidate competency. Recruiters should be able to get this right 80% of the time with a 30-minute performance-based phone screen, at least to the point of not embarrassing themselves by recommending a totally unqualified person. Think of the time wasted sending out a candidate who shouldn’t be seen in the first place.
Make sure your recruiters are tough-minded, confident, and persistent. The best recruiters don’t take no for an answer, they defend their candidates from superficial assessments, and they close on career opportunities more than money. These recruiters are 2-3 times more productive than those who cave at every negative. Double your team’s productivity by making sure your recruiters are those who don’t give up without a fight.
Manage time. Cold-calling people you don’t know is a big time-waster. Calling people who are good who will call you back is an ok thing to do if a great ad didn’t work. A sequenced sourcing strategy based on the “low-hanging fruit principle” of selling should be established for every search assignment. Then, measure your recruiters on qualified sendouts/hour to start finding out where your team is wasting its time.
Don’t let your recruiters call people who won’t call them back. Start tracking voice-mail return rates. Those with the highest percentages (target a minimum of 75% to start) usually spend more time calling referrals, are seen as subject-matter experts or come across as extremely professional. To improve productivity 300%, either train your recruiters to increase their callback rate from 25% to 75%, or hire those who already do it without complaining how hard it is.
Make sure your recruiters get 2-3 high-quality referrals on every call. The ability to get high-quality referrals is the secret behind passive candidate recruiting. A great referral will call you back if you mention the name of the great person who provided the referral. Recruiters then need to prequalify every referral and only call those who are worthy. If you track great referrals per call, you’ll quickly know which recruiters are able to play in the passive candidate recruiting talent game.
Prepare a process-flow diagram of every step in your hiring process and calculate the yield at each of these steps. Look at each step in your hiring processes and see where you lose the most candidates. First, track ad response and apply rates. At the back end of the process, figure out how many good candidates were poorly assessed or excluded for dumb reasons. Then start working on those process steps that can double or triple your team productivity.
Make sure you’re attracting early-birds, not leftovers. When you examine the problems associated with most active candidate sourcing programs, you quickly discover that they’re attracting leftovers, or candidates who have been in the market a few weeks or more. If you’re not attracting the best of the bunch as soon as they start looking, you’re wasting time and resources going through electronic stacks of resumes of unqualified people. Implementing an early-bird sourcing strategy can increase your active candidate sourcing productivity by 100-200%!
Eliminate all barriers-to-entry. The best people, whether they’re active or passive, are more discriminating and don’t want to be pushed into filling in an application before they’re ready. To address this critical need, establish an open-door policy where you allow candidates to “just look around” before getting serious. This is what Web 2.0 is really about — establishing two-way relationships using a variety of entry points to attract someone’s attention.
Manage your 500-pound gorillas. A huge productivity loss is managers who can’t recruit, don’t know real job needs, or can’t accurately interview. If you’ve ever lost a good candidate for one of these reasons, or if managers refuse to see a top-notch person with a slightly different skill set, you know how much time is wasted here. Getting hiring managers inducted into the real world of hiring top performers will double your productivity almost overnight. Not doing it will diminish the impact of everything else mentioned here. (Contact me if you’d like to find out about our new gorilla taming programs.)
Doing everything described will absolutely result in a 100%-200% productivity gain. If not, you didn’t do them right, so start over and try again. Even if you did achieve the productivity improvements, start over again anyway to get another 100%-200% productivity improvement.

Things are changing so fast you need to keep at it by establishing a continuous improvement program. Bottom line, this is what this article is really about.

Taipei - Taiwan's economic woes are causing an increasing number of the island's residents to search for work in China, a job placement agency said Friday.

According to the 104 Job Bank, an average of 22,000 Taiwan job seekers a day contacted the placement agency in March, asking for for jobs in China, up 20 per cent from February and up 30 per cent year-on-year.

The figure is the highest since the human resources agency started operations in 1996.

In March the company could offer 5,300 jobs in China so far, one job for every four job seekers wishing to work in China.

All those jobs were provided by China-based Taiwan companies for which the placement centre serves as as online 'matchmaker.'

Taiwan's jobless rate hit a record 5.33 per cent in January, driven up by the global financial crisis.

Taiwan media reported on a growing number of people committing suicide after losing the jobs and running into debts.

Schools across China will hire 50,000 college graduates as short-term teachers this year to help ease employment pressure.

That is almost triple the number of teachers hired last year.

They will work under three-year contracts with local education departments and be paid by a special central government fund, the Ministry of Education said.

"Most of the jobs are only open to students who will graduate from colleges this year," ministry spokeswoman Xu Mei said on Wednesday.

"But some teaching positions are open to outstanding degree holders who graduated in past years, such as those who have volunteer teaching experience in rural schools," she said.

The short-term teacher project was launched in 2006 to help college graduates find employment.

The teachers will work at primary and high schools, mostly in rural areas.

Besides salary from the central government, they may get bonuses and subsidies from local governments, Xu said.

After the three-year contract expires, schools will decide whether to renew the contracts.

The teachers will be recruited through public job fairs.

The ministry also announced other policies this week to help ease employment pressure on college graduates.

Graduates recruited by the army will have their education loans paid by the government and those who are awarded an honor in the army can be recruited as postgraduate students without taking the difficult entrance examination.

The country will also provide subsidies and reduce taxes for small and middle-sized enterprises that recruit college graduates this year.

To promote employment, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) urged local departments to create more jobs for graduates.

"Local governments will provide special subsidies for college graduates who work at the grassroots," Wang Yadong, deputy director of MHRSS' employment promotion department, said in an earlier interview.

Special funds and subsidies have been earmarked to encourage college graduates to work in rural and grassroots positions or to start their own businesses.

However, "most graduates are focusing on jobs in large cities and few would like to start their own businesses", Wang said.

A recent study by the MHRSS found only 0.3 percent of college graduates in 2007 started their own businesses.

That is much lower than some developed countries where the rate is about 40 percent.

A total of 6.11 million fresh graduates - 520,000 more than in 2008 - are expected to enter the job market this year.

Nokia has announced more job cuts, and they’re unlikely to be the last. On March 17, the company said it is eliminating 1,700 jobs, including about 700 in Finland. The announcement comes a month after Nokia said it was closing a research and development center in Finland, while imposing temporary layoffs at a Finnish handset factory.

But more cuts will be needed for Nokia to meet its goal of saving $900 million, says analyst Jari Honko at eQ Bank in Helsinki. He estimates the measures disclosed so far will save about $390 million. So Nokia isn’t even halfway there.

Compared to what’s going on in some other industries, the scale of the latest job cuts is modest—though that is certainly no consolation to the Nokia employees affected. The 1,700 jobs, including about 700 in Finland, represent only about 1% of Nokia’s total workforce. It’s also worth remembering that Nokia increased its headcount by 16,000 people in 2008, so the most recent round of cuts represents less than two months of recent hiring.

Most Nokia watchers still believe that the company’s scale and history of innovation will enable it to emerge from the downturn stronger than competitors such as Motorola. But 2009 will be a perilous year for Nokia. The company lost market share in smartphones to Apple and Research In Motion in the fourth quarter (though Nokia may have gained some share back after rolling out its touch-screen 5800 XpressMusic handset in recent months). Growth in emerging markets has stalled. Nokia Siemens Networks, the company’s telco equipment unit, faces a strong challenge from China’s Huawei.

Nokia investors can only hope that the company will show the same pluck and creativity that has rescued it from big setbacks in the past.

BANGALORE, INDIA: Zinnov Management Consulting, a leading management consulting firm, today launched an in-depth study on China's R&D Service Provider Landscape titled "R&D Globalization – R&D Service Provider Landscape in China".

The study in totality brought to light the entire R&D service provider market in China and estimated the market to be USD 1.3 billion as opposed to a market of about USD 3.5 billion in India. It read that revenues related to R&D services for top 3 players in the China market is growing at a much faster rate than the industry average of 46.6 percent.

The China R&D offshore outsourcing market is dominated by Chinese service providers with relatively small presence of India and US based service providers. Though the overall R&D offshore outsourcing market is growing fast, most revenues come from low-end QA/ testing work.

"We have noticed that a majority of customers of China-based service providers are very uncertain about the capabilities of their partners owing to the nascent stage at which the market is in. However, at the same time, we do see an up-swing in the growth of US based companies trying to offshore their R&D related work to third party service providers in China", said Praveen Bhadada, Engagement Manager, Zinnov.

The report highlighted that the R&D offshore outsourcing market in China is highly fragmented with the top 10 service providers accounting for about 28 percent of the total market share. It also read that there are more than 10,000 large to small sized outsourcing service providers in China providing IT services/ ITeS / R&D services. Divulging specifics on how Indian service providers have fared in the market, the report said that the Indian players have not been able to scale up their operations in China, in spite of having ambitious ramp up plans since their inception.

"MNCs who were looking at diversifying risks related to R&D Globalization, chose Chinese service providers as a risk mitigation strategy for the market. Additionally, reasons like cultural and language differences, coupled with issues around recruitment and retention of key employees, acted as deterrents to their growth. "Therefore today, most of the top Indian service providers in China do not offer a broad array of R&D services as opposed to their Chinese competitors and the focus is primarily on IT services", said Chandramouli, Director-Advisory Services, Zinnov.

The report additionally highlighted that the cumulative revenues for top 4 Indian service providers is about USD 65 million of which R&D services constitutes only about USD 7.7 million.It read that the billing rates of service providers for R&D related work oscillates widely and primarily depends upon the kind of work, also adding that the rates for top 5 service providers are relatively higher owing to their experience, capabilities and quality of talent.

The strong ability of overcoming some of the most difficult challenges, coupled with favorable growth drivers have contributed towards the current state of the China offshore outsourcing market. Even today, communication issues with lack of scalability are primary reasons that are restraining its growth. However, low cost of operations along with the proximity to certain key markets in APAC region are some of the key drivers of growth.

The report also stated that in the near future, Chinese service providers would surely increase their focus on the US/ European markets by extending their sales operations in those geographies. The current high fragmentation would surely prompt the market, which is undoubtedly passing through a growth phase at the moment, to enter the integration phase observing increased M&A activities, as the top players would like to grow both organically and inorganically in a market which is expanding fast. Initiatives from Government and enterprises will also improve the talent capability which might act as a key driver in unleashing the market potential in the years to come.

In this excerpt from the McKinsey Quarterly, the authors discuss ways some companies are successfully navigating the country's skilled-talent shortage.

How to Address China's Growing Talent Shortage

The imbalance between business opportunities in China and qualified executives to manage them will get worse -- a lot worse -- before it gets better.

By Kevin Lane and Florian Pollner

The growing need for talented managers in China represents by far the biggest management challenge facing multinationals and locally owned businesses alike. In a recent AmCham Shanghai survey of US-owned enterprises there, for example, 37 percent of the companies responding said that recruiting talent was their biggest operational problem -- more than the number who cited regulatory concerns, a lack of transparency, bureaucracy, or the infringement of intellectual-property rights.

Separately, 44 percent of the executives at Chinese companies surveyed by The McKinsey Quarterly reported that insufficient talent was the biggest barrier to their global ambitions. ...

Continued strong economic growth in China over the next several years will further fuel demand for good people. Mature economies too face a growing talent gap because of longer-term demographic trends such as lower birth rates and the retirement of the baby boomers. Leading multinationals in these countries therefore increasingly compete globally to find talent, intensifying the problem still more.

On the supply side, the gap is widening at all levels in China. For entry-level corporate positions, there is an ongoing mismatch between the sort of graduates most Chinese universities turn out and the type of candidate who would interest local and regional companies, to say nothing of multinationals. People who prove themselves effective will have increasingly high expectations of their current employers, and if those expectations aren't met they may easily be tempted by lucrative rival offers. The market for experienced hires is even more challenging, especially when international experience beyond China and Asia is required.

Local companies and multinationals therefore increasingly fish in the same small pond of high-potential graduates and experienced managers with the right functional capabilities, leadership potential, and language skills. Many local companies are willing to match or exceed the multinationals' compensation packages.

Companies that are successfully addressing the talent challenge in China stand out in a number of ways, including their ability to localize techniques that have worked in other parts of the world.

The most effective companies have a clear strategic view of their talent needs four to five years out, identify gaps at all levels of the organization, and segment their executives carefully. They develop and operate both a sophisticated external-recruiting machine and an internal-development and -training program adapted to the local Chinese environment.

Integrate strategic planning and talent planning. In the past, the world was short of capital and innovation but rich in talent, which was therefore a second-order consideration in defining corporate strategies.

In China today, by contrast, a leading company is likely to think of talent as a key input. A superior understanding of the available talent pools -- and a realistic assessment of the company's ability to attract and develop talent from them -- shapes its strategic choices.

Know what you need -- it may not be what you think it is. Top companies segment their talent base with the same effort and care that a top marketing department employs to segment its customer base.

That means making projections, based on corporate strategy, for perhaps four or five different salary grades and tenure groups, taking into account the expected number of internal hires, promotions, and likely attrition rates.

Given the rapid rate of change and the likelihood that new assumptions about issues such as employee turnover will have to be built into the model, these targets should be reviewed at least twice a year.

Companies should also define the types of functional capabilities they must build and identify the specific types of leaders they will need -- for example, "business builders," who can lead enterprises into new regional markets, or "execution drivers," who can instill discipline in performance.

The functional skills and leadership abilities required in China will probably differ from those called for in developed markets ... .

Managers in China might, for example, need to know more about simplifying or tailoring products, finding low-capital solutions, and managing alliances and government relations. A higher level of comfort with ambiguity or greater cultural openness may be necessary as well. Companies in China must therefore be prepared to recognize and address the difference between their talent needs in that country and in the rest of the world.

A stronger -- and sharper -- focus on talent. In China, any company's local management committee should make talent a standing item on the agenda. The top team ought to review important initiatives every two or three months and invest time in devising efficient processes to gather data from factories, in making specific people accountable for acting on talent issues, and in setting and revising targets.

Senior executives need to take this responsibility personally by devoting significant and highly visible time to talent rather than assigning the problem solely to human resources (HR), and they must apply as much rigor and intensity to recruiting, developing, retaining, and allocating talent as they do to financial planning. We often find that companies ignore some of these basics, treating talent as a "soft" issue and thus ignoring its very "hard" financial impact.

...

Longer, stronger pipelines. University recruitment is a key element in the talent strategies of multinationals and local Chinese businesses alike. It requires a highly tailored approach to partnerships with institutions of higher learning, as well as a careful analysis of the top-tier schools, schools with a strong national reputation, and those with solid regional or local standing. (We often find that some of the most successful -- and loyal -- recruits can be found at universities close to the places where jobs open up.)

Recruitment efforts should begin with a rethinking of a company's brand attributes and value proposition for Chinese graduates, whose attitudes on these issues often differ from those of their counterparts elsewhere.

Companies have a number of ways to establish a reputation on campus, and all must be explored -- for instance, sponsoring a lecture or university chair, hiring student interns during summer vacation, and forging relationships with faculty members to support research. In other markets with similar talent challenges, companies and trade associations have even set up their own schools and universities to alleviate the scarcity of suitable high-potential entry-level talent.

Companies should build a portfolio of relationships with universities, aiming for close ties (developed by a specific team) with a few institutions and for looser links to a number of others. An important objective of these relationships should be to identify talented people at a much earlier stage than companies elsewhere might consider appropriate -- as early as the second year of college.

IBM, one of the corporations now building strong bridges to education in China, has formed partnerships with several Chinese universities, donated millions of dollars to educational institutions across the country, and collaborated with the Ministry of Education to improve the teaching and curricula at Chinese universities.

Do-it-yourself development. Since the tight talent market routinely fails to provide candidates who have the right skills and leadership qualities, leading companies build training and development programs and put them at the center of hiring and retention. Global policies and programs may not work; companies in China must tailor them substantially to the mind-set of a highly willing but often relatively low-skill talent pool that nonetheless expects a fast track to senior levels and substantial responsibility.

Employees therefore ought to have clear development paths, which may include unusually fast promotion to intermediate tiers of responsibility, such as assistant brand manager. Apprenticeships and mentoring can promote both learning and commitment, and training should take place in the context of real work as much as possible.

P&G, which uses these tools very effectively, has built one of China's strongest talent engines, with a high degree of localization. At Motorola, employees can benefit from such tailored offerings as the China Accelerated Management Program, for promising local managers; the Motorola Management Foundation Program, to train new managers in such areas as problem solving and communication; and the Motorola high-tech MBA program, a partnership with Arizona State University and Tsinghua University, which allows high-performing employees in China to earn an MBA in house.

Proactively building the basics is no less important; many Chinese companies either lack the evaluation systems, feedback loops, and other mechanisms regarded as the minimum level of best practice in the West, or they implement them poorly. Companies should not only build these processes but also train employees to manage them effectively (explaining, for example, how to set expectations unambiguously and to have meaningful feedback conversations).

Not the usual suspects. Given the pace of growth in the number of qualified senior managers and the time required to develop them, external recruitment ought to be a regular part of the talent solution in China. Companies should look beyond their own sectors for experienced leaders by identifying industries that have faced analogous challenges, such as similar distribution structures or regulatory barriers.

Often, the types of experiences managers have under their belts indicate their potential more accurately than do the industries where they work. When a top company identifies the key types of leaders it needs, across the ranks, it can define the background, experience, and qualities it wants them to have. Going beyond the usual suspects becomes easier: a company can then methodically identify situations, industries, and companies that have exposed managers to the specific types of experiences it requires.

Turning challenges into opportunities. China poses the dual challenge of aggressive business-building goals and an insufficient pool of talent to achieve them. Top companies turn this challenge into an opportunity by using major initiatives as a chance to develop new leaders from within and to bring experienced leaders recruited from the outside up to speed more systematically.

This approach does require a willingness to give relatively inexperienced people responsibility for major initiatives but can also help companies to develop leaders and capabilities more quickly. The keys to success include matching the right people to the right initiatives, ensuring that the initiatives are truly important, and providing the right support -- to build both leadership and functional skills -- so that leaders emerge in a "just in time" fashion.

Comprehensive and consistent. Our suggestions address critical aspects of the talent problem in China. But to be effective, they must be integrated tightly with other elements of a company's operations and organization, including its corporate culture and HR processes.

Employees expect a company's stated mission, values, and talent policies to hang together consistently; companies that value entrepreneurship highly should reward it highly, for example. This kind of alignment is a distinct challenge in a market where many employees, including managers, are relatively new to the companies they serve.

Companies in China must therefore revisit their HR policies and processes to ensure a good fit with the peculiarities of the changing local talent market; retention policies, for instance, should reflect the priorities of Chinese employees (such as whether they tend to leave for money, advancement, or better learning opportunities), and internal talent markets should be as vibrant and exciting as the external one.

The broad principles of managing talent in China may not differ much from those prevailing in other markets, but the extreme imbalance of supply and demand, coupled with the rapid pace of change in both the corporate and social domains, poses a distinct challenge. Companies hoping to compete successfully in China must raise talent to the top of the agenda. Those that get the solution right will create a real source of competitive advantage.

Many who migrated to the U.S. are returning to an economy that offers richer career opportunities.

By David Pierson and Don Lee
February 24, 2009

Reporting from Shanghai and Los Angeles -- Xun Jia, a doctoral candidate in theoretical physics at UCLA, expected to find a job on Wall Street crunching complex financial formulas upon his graduation.

But after meeting with 10 recruiters to no avail, the Chinese native is looking for new opportunities -- in the country he left behind.

"I'm definitely considering moving back," said Jia, 27, who always envisioned himself establishing a career in the U.S. first but is now firing off his resume to contacts in China. "They need people to go back."

The Chinese government is counting on people like Jia -- nicknamed "sea turtles" because they journeyed across the ocean and then came back -- to help retool its economy and find paths to expansion beyond the cheap exports on which the country has relied for so many years.

Late last year, the government launched an aggressive campaign to lure them back and is spending millions to entice accomplished investors, bankers, researchers and engineers to come home.

During a 10-day series of job fairs in December, Chinese banks, universities and government agencies interviewed more than 4,400 people in London, Chicago and New York.

The southern city of Guangzhou has created a $30-million fund to attract overseas financial professionals and along with the city of Shenzhen is considering a multicity recruitment tour of the U.S. this summer.

The economic boom that lighted up China in the last decade had already served as a beacon to many expatriates, drawing thousands home from the U.S. and other places.

A record 50,000 Chinese students who studied abroad returned to China last year, an increase of 6,000 from the year before and more than double the number in 2004, government statistics show.

Though there are no official data, the presence of returning Chinese expatriates and foreign-born ethnic Chinese in China has grown over the years, experts say.

In Shanghai, about 4,000 businesses are said to have been founded by returned students, amounting to more than $500 million in investment, Chinese state media have reported.

Charles Zhang, the founder of one of China's largest Internet portals, Sohu.com, was educated at MIT. At the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences, 80% of the faculty studied abroad, as did more than half of those at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

"You can find most things you were used to in the U.S. in Shanghai now," said Greg Ye, a graduate of Harvard Business School who returned to found NewMargin Venture, a private equity fund. "I feel like there's lots more opportunity here."

With the global recession slowing the economy to levels last seen in 2002, the Chinese government wants even more of those living abroad to come home in the next few years.

"They want to send a positive message that the government is forward-thinking" by looking overseas for help, said Clay Dube, associate director of the U.S.-China Institute at USC. "That's the political and public relations side of it. Then there's a real recognition that moving forward, you're going to need these folks."

Senior executives in Shanghai's financial industry said the interest was so high that they alone carried 330 pounds of resumes from the job fairs back with them.

Although it's unclear how successful the recruiting campaign will ultimately be, financial firms in Shanghai did recently offer jobs to 53 candidates as a result of the fairs, according to Caijing, an influential Chinese business magazine.

State media also reported that Chinese automaker Futian is eyeing laid-off workers in Detroit, hoping to hire about 10 specialists in research and development, production and sales.

The confidence with which China is courting its diaspora reflects the vastly changed attitudes about the country's prospects since the economy started to flourish in the 1990s.

In earlier years, many Chinese students preferred to stay overseas while China was still struggling to transition out of a state-dominated economy. A generation of students in the U.S. were helped along by the asylum granted them after the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989.

But with China's economic boom over the last decade, the idea of moving back became increasingly palatable and, in many cases, attractive to the ambitious.

Multinational corporations opened offices, entrepreneurs broke ground and living standards soared in the metropolitan areas along the coast.

"The younger generation has no hesitation going back," said Henry Zhang of the Chinese Finance Assn., which helped organize a recent recruitment fair in New York. "I think it's a permanent shift."

Zhang, of Mountain View, Calif., is part of the older generation. He left China to study physics at the University of Texas at Austin in 1989 carrying all of $245. He knew that heading to the U.S. and staying there offered him the most opportunity.

"Before, you would go to America and never look back," said Zhang, 45. "You had no regrets. You just had to march forward."

Now, Zhang says he has the best of both worlds. He travels to China frequently to teach investing at an international business school.

He has turned down full-time job offers in China because he thought it would be too difficult for his family to leave America.

Shanghai, the primary destination for those returning, is looking to seize opportunities created by the global downturn to build an international financial center rivaling those of Hong Kong and Singapore.

Recruiting events now occur regularly. In a low-key affair at the end of December, a group of sea turtles invited 65 people from overseas to spend two days at a Marriott hotel in the Pudong district, China's financial hub and home to Shanghai's stock exchanges.

The event was supported by the Pudong government and gave bank executives and agency officials a chance to mingle with people like Will Lu, a Hacienda Heights resident who works for a merchant banking firm out of Los Angeles.

The 34-year-old native of Shanghai, who graduated from USC's Marshall School of Business, says he was there to network with key people in government and business.

"As in Wall Street, you have to know someone to get into the industry," he said.

The Pudong event was Lu's third such recruiting session in China in a month. The others were in Beijing and Guangzhou.

When Lu left China in 2001, he remembers, he and his friends were drawn to the U.S. and its opportunities. That attraction is still there, he said, but the financial crisis has accelerated a shift to the East.

"The focusing point of the world," he said, "will be changing to China."

China’s car makers are increasingly ambitious, as illustrated by plans to grow at home and, in some cases, expand abroad. One big impediment they face in taking on their foreign rivals: design.

Big global companies spend years, and millions of dollars, designing new cars. But many home-grown Chinese auto makers actually do very little of that.

A senior executive of one small auto maker in Hebei recently laid it out for us over a cup of tea: the reason his company can sell cars much cheaper than foreign auto makers who also produce cars in China, he said, is that his company does no engineering or design work whatsoever. Instead, they tell an outside engineering consultant which existing model they want to copy, and ask them to come up with a product counterfeited in a way that it won’t attract intellectual property lawsuits. In some cases that means companies combining styling ideas from two separate cars into one.

The problem isn’t a lack of talent — as China Journal found one recent day on a visit to the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. There we met Phoenix Wang and Jackie Lin, two students whose edgy car designs have put them near the top of their class. Both Wang, a 22 year old from Sichuan, and Lin, a 23 year old from Guangdong, have long been determined to pursue car design professionally. But they and their peers have dim prospects in a domestic industry that doesn’t value their skills.

Their instructor is trying to change that. Ed Wong is a former General Motors Corp. designer who over the past five years also has worked off and on as an outside design consultant for Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp., helping the company come up with uniquely-designed and –styled cars of its own, which it aims to launch over the next few years. Wong — a 1987 graduate of the Art Center College of Design, the Harvard of car design, in Pasadena, Calif. — went to work at GM’s main design studio near Detroit before becoming a car-design instructor in the mid-90s, teaching car design in California and Hong Kong.

Since arriving in Beijing, he has designed, among other cars, the Beijing Warrior, the rugged vehicle China’s army now uses as its main jeep, and the Beijing 800 sedan and several other concept cars Beijing Auto showed at the Beijing auto show in 2008.

Wong joined the Central Academy of Fine Arts last September as director of the school’s transportation design department, and he is helping change the outlook of students like Wang and Lin.

Wang says she was planning to continue her design studies in the U.S., but Wong brought with him a car-styling curriculum similar to that used at Art Center, and now she no longer feels she needs to go abroad to pursue her dream. Initially an industrial design student learning to design cell phones and bicycles, Lin says Wong “changed my life and outlook.”

Wang and Lin have it better than many of their fellow aspiring car designers. They plan, for now, to work with Wong after graduation, consulting for Beijing Auto. But until Chinese auto makers start taking design more seriously, theirs will remain a challenging job market, and a lot of talent will go to waste.

BEIJING -- Human Resources and Social Security Minister Yin Weimin warned of a "grave" employment situation in China on Tuesday, but said government measures to boost employment have taken "initial effects".

With the big drop in company posts, a large number of migrant workers who lost their jobs, and the labor-intensive industry falling as major victim amid global financial downturn, "the employment situation in China is very grave," he said at a press conference on the sidelines of the parliament's annual full session.

In face of the grave situation, the Chinese government has taken a series of measures, which have shown "initial effect", he said.

In the first two months of this year, China saw "a reverse on the dropping trend" in new labor posts in cities, he said.

The number of new laborers stood at 690,000 and 930,000 in January and February, compared with 550,000 and 380,000 in November and December last year, according to Yin.

China recorded the first rise in company posts in February after it dropped for four consecutive months from October last year, he said.

"It's only a moderate increase of 1 percent, but it's good news," he said.

"But can we then judge from the two pieces of good news that our employment situation is turning for the good? I think we should keep on observing the overall economic development," he said.

China's export continued the downward tendency in February and will face a "grim" situation in the "coming foreseeable months", said Chen Deming, Minister of Commerce, at the conference .

"Affected by the global economic recession, China has undergone negative growth in both import and export since last November," said Chen.

The salaries of executives in China's State-owned enterprises (SOEs) could soon be limited.

A drafted regulation reportedly caps the salary of senior executives at no more than 10-12 times the average of regular SOE staff salaries. The plan also limits the growth of executive pay to no faster than the expansion rate of corporate profits.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first three quarters of 2008, the average income of SOE employees was 20,576 yuan.

"The salaries of executives in SOEs should be controlled because they are appointed by the government, not chosen by their market value and SOEs enjoy more favorable policies and resources than their private counterparts," said Liu Junsheng, a researcher with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The financial sector will be the first regulated, with a reported ceiling of 2.8 million yuan on executives' annual pretax salary.

Executive pays came under the spotlight after Guotai Jun'an Securities Co, one of China's leading State-sector brokerages, revealed a package of 3.2 billion yuan for executive "compensation and welfare" in 2008.

If the 3-billion-yuan total compensation was equally shared by the company's 3,200 employees, each would receive about 1 million yuan, or 88 times an average urban worker's annual income.

The financial services industry suffered major losses so the financial companies' hefty payout deals drew widespread public ire.

An online survey conducted by ifeng.com showed that over 96 percent of netizens said the performance of the executives in SOEs did not match their high salaries.

The salaries of many high-level executives in SOEs are also not transparent to the public. Human resources consulting firm Mercer conducted studies on executives compensation for China's CSI 300 Index companies traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges since 2005, using publicly disclosed information and found the disclosed compensation information for executives is limited compared to those listed in countries such as the US.

"People have a right to know about executive salaries, including the specific amount, their performance evaluation method and performance results. But this kind of information is not available for companies on the Chinese mainland," said Zheng Wei, managing director for Asia executive remuneration business with Mercer.

According to the Mercer report, in 2007, most bank presidents' compensation was about 10-20 times that of an average staff salary. The report also said the salaries of senior executives in State banks have little connection to the banks' performance.

The highest pay package in financial industry in 2007 was as much as 66 million yuan for Ma Mingzhe, chairman of Ping An Insurance (Group) Co, which garnered criticism on Internet forums.

A draft of a general regulation to cap salaries of high-level executives in SOEs will be submitted to the State Council for approval soon, said Liu.

"China is red hot and staying hot," said Jim Cramer on CNBC's "Stop Trading!" segment on Tuesday.

Vehicle sales are up in China, led by General Motors(GM Quote - Cramer on GM - Stock Picks). "People have to understand that the Chinese stimulus plan is really rooted in people's spending," Cramer said. It's "enough to be able to change spending habits, buy more, drive more cars."

He called China "the best market in the world" and predicted that it still has "far to go."

But there's a tradeoff, Cramer said, because China's stimulus plan isn't regulated by the rules of a democracy. "A democracy has a lot of different considerations to make it more difficult," he said. "I'll take the freedom over what they've got."

Cramer said that Verizon(VZ Quote - Cramer on VZ - Stock Picks) is going higher, and he recommended ag stocks such as Terra Nitrogen(TNH Quote - Cramer on TNH - Stock Picks) and Monsanto(MON Quote - Cramer on MON - Stock Picks).

"Monsanto's back," he said, adding that it had a "good" quarter, unlike Deere(DE Quote - Cramer on DE - Stock Picks).

He likes Terra Nitrogen for its dividend. "TNH is a great fertilizer play," he said.

Senior executives at nearly a quarter of Chinese companies would see no increase in their compensation packages this year, a survey by human resources consulting firm, Mercer, has found.

In all, 59 companies in China were included in the survey, of which 76 percent were listed companies and 39 percent, multinationals.

Around 34 percent of the surveyed companies said executive bonuses for 2008 would decrease. The average bonus level in Asia was 40 percent for 2008.

The global financial crisis has pushed companies to review executive compensation mechanisms. This is being done to tighten the relationship between executive pay and company strategy.

Around 49 percent of companies in China may adjust their performance evaluation standards in the next 12 months. Nearly 33 percent said they would adjust long-term evaluation standards, the survey revealed.

About 71 percent of the companies surveyed said they had a long-term incentive plan designed to retain talent. Due to the sluggish market, around 14 percent of the companies said the value of their long-term incentive plan (that will be met this year) would be lowered.

Mercer conducted similar surveys in other Asian nations, including India, South Korea, Japan and Singapore.

"In Asia, one-third of the companies surveyed said their senior executives' salaries wouldn't increase in 2009. The proportion in China is a little smaller than the average, indicating that the country is less impacted by the financial crisis," said Zheng Wei, managing director for the Asia executive remuneration business at Mercer.

"Considering the deferred impact on China's market, we expect more companies in China to take similar measures to limit senior executives' pay this year," Zheng added.

Ma Mingzhe, the chairman of Ping An Insurance (Group) Co, received the highest pay package for 2007 in the financial industry, at 66 million yuan. This was a nearly four-fold jump from his 2006 salary and was widely criticized.

About two thirds of Ma's salary in 2007 came from the long-term incentive plan. "Because of the financial crisis, companies should pay much more attention to the validity and rationality of the salary mechanism and make it palatable to staff and public supervisors," said Zheng.

Wanda Group, one of the country's largest private property developers, will offer 60,000 new jobs this year, a company executive said on Wednesday.

"Most of the jobs are created by our rapid expansion this year," Wang Jianlin, Wanda's chairman, told China Daily on the sidelines of the annual sessions of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Wanda plans to build eight shopping malls and two five-star hotels this year. The company has spent 11 billion yuan in grabbing five pieces of land in Shijiazhuang, Tangshan, Tianjin, Hefei and Hohhot since the fourth quarter of last year, despite the sluggish property market.

Unemployed graduates will get a job offer within 12 hours of an application in the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, officials said Monday.

A record 58,000 graduates are expected to enter the job market in the region this year, up 9 percent from last year, prompting Xinjiang to roll out a slew of measures to help them find jobs amid the financial crisis.

"We can ensure that a graduate student can get at least one offer within 12 hours in Urumqi," said Li Zhi, party head of Urumqi. Li is in Beijing to attend the ongoing session of the National People's Congress.

Although he didn't say what kind of positions would be offered to students, he said that priority would be given to ethnic minority students.

"We will encourage employers to hire ethnic minority students and the government at all levels will arrange positions for them," Li said.

The efforts are part of a package for all Xinjiang graduates as the region aims to maintain an employment rate of over 70 percent among fresh graduates, said Tian Wen, party chief of Xinjiang personnel bureau.

Xinjiang's relatively small economy, however, means that there will be fewer urban jobs than the number of new graduates. As a result, they will be urged to go to the countryside to teach or practice as medical workers. Five percent college graduates in the region have been working in rural areas since last year.

"We offer tailored positions to students to support medical and educational developments in rural Xinjiang," Tian said.

She did not specify how many such positions are offered but said that 80 percent positions are reserved for ethnic minority students.

Both officials called for graduates to take frontline jobs, with Tian saying multiple vacancies exist in the public welfare sector.

Besides, the region has also established five job-training bases in Ili Kazak autonomous prefecture, Urumqi and Aksu. Among the other measures to boost employment among new graduates are subsidizing companies that employ graduates, offering small loans to graduates starting their own businesses, employment guidance to students and organizing specialized job fairs.

Bank of China, the country's third-largest lender, plans to recruit 10,000 college graduates to staff its expanding networks, its president said.

The hiring "will be the biggest among the country's commercial banks," the Beijing Times reported, citing Li Lihui, president of Bank of China.

The nation's biggest foreign exchange bank will also expand its networks this year and some of the new recruits will be assigned to those outlets, Li said on the sidelines of the annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

The Beijing-based lender also said on Saturday that Temasek Holdings Pte, which owns 4.1 percent of the bank, would not sell its stake until at least June 30, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Chairman Xiao Gang.

Temasek, Singapore's government-owned investment company, has 10.48 billion Hong Kong-listed shares of Bank of China.

Xiao also denied rumors that Bank of China will take its Hong Kong subsidiary BOC Hong Kong private.

Nearly 1,000 enterprises in Guangdong province's Shenzhen went under last year, but the local job market remained stable, Mayor Xu Zongheng said yesterday.

"The global economic meltdown has had remarkable impact on Shenzhen's development, which largely depends on the overseas market for economic and trade growth," Xu told reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing National People's Congress session in Beijing.

Up to 60 percent of Shenzhen's foreign-funded enterprises are from neighboring Hong Kong, and most goods sent from Shenzhen to overseas markets are exported through the special administrative region, Xu said.

As many as 903 enterprises folded last year, leaving about 3 percent of the city's labor force, or 90,000 migrant workers, jobless, Xu said. "More than 60 percent of these enterprises had to close their doors because they were unable to sustain business in the global financial crisis' wake," he said.

The rest - nearly 300 enterprises - were closed because they failed to meet environmental protection requirements, Xu said.

But the city last year approved up to 35,800 new enterprises, of which half are involved in the modern service and hi-tech sectors, Xu pointed out.

"These new enterprises have greatly helped create more employment for migrant workers, ensuring the job market remained stable," he said.

About 4.5 million migrant workers left the city last year, but some 4.9 million have returned after the Spring Festival, Xu said.

"We attach great importance to migrant workers' employment, and have used a series of measures to help them get back to work in the city since the end of last year," Xu said.

These included free job markets organized by local labor authorities and enterprises, and free training courses for migrant workers, Xu said.

"Migrant workers who have been employed in Shenzhen for a certain period of time are allowed to apply for residence permits," Xu said.

In another development, Xu said people with temporary residence permits in Shenzhen could also apply for Hong Kong tourism passes with unlimited entries from May.

Also, Shenzhen's permanent residence permit holders would be able to visit Hong Kong with unlimited passes from April to enhance the two cities' integration, Xu said. Shenzhen currently has 2.32 million people with permanent residence cards and 6.44 million with temporary permits, he said.

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Coca-Cola Co., the world’s largest soft-drink maker, plans to invest $2 billion in China over the next three years as part of its attempt to win more of the nation’s 1.3 billion consumers.

The investment plan includes a $90 million technology center that opened in Shanghai today, the Atlanta-based company said in an e-mailed statement. Coca-Cola’s proposed investment is 25 percent more than the $1.6 billion it had already spent in China since returning in 1979.

Beverage companies including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo Inc. are expanding in China, betting demand will continue to grow as the recession erodes consumer spending in the U.S. Coca-Cola’s planned spending may also aid its $2.4 billion acquisition of China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd., which was announced in September and is now awaiting government approval.

“Coca-Cola’s investment is a positive for the Huiyuan acquisition,” said Kevin Luo, a consumer goods analyst with Guotai Junan Securities HK Ltd. in Shenzhen, southern China. “This investment will help create jobs, which would obviously be welcomed by the government, so even though it won’t have a direct impact on the acquisition’s approval, it can’t hurt.”

Pepsi said on Nov. 3 it plans to invest $1 billion in China in the next four years. Japan’s Asahi Breweries Ltd. in January paid $667 million for a 19.9 percent stake in Tsingtao Brewery Co., China’s biggest beer company.

Market Leader

Coca-Cola controls 54 percent of the Chinese soda market and Pepsi 31 percent, according to research company Euromonitor International.

Retail spending in China may rise 14 percent this year, the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation’s top economic planning agency, said in a report distributed yesterday to the country’s legislature. China has also cut taxes and increased welfare spending in a bid to boost consumer spending amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

“It’s wise for international companies to invest in China, especially at a time when China is trying to boost domestic consumption,” said Kenny Tang, executive director of Redford Securities Co. in Hong Kong. “There’s still room for growth.”

Coca-Cola’s sales by volume rose 19 percent last year in China and declined by 1 percent in North America, according to the company’s annual report.

“Our commitment and confidence in China never wavers,” Coca-Cola Chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent said in today’s statement. The company will invest in new plants, distribution and sales and marketing, Kent said.

Coca-Cola and Huiyuan, which applied for approval from China’s Ministry of Commerce in September, said then that they expected a government decision by March 23.

“We are in very regular contact with the Ministry of Commerce, and we try to be as helpful as possible in answering questions and providing supplementary information,” Kenth Kaerhoeg, a spokesman for Coca-Cola Asia, said by e-mail today.

Win-win Cooperation Between China Leading CROs, Boosting Full Service Capability

HANGZHOU, China, March 3 /PRNewswire-Asia/ --

Tigermed Consulting Co., Ltd, a leading Contract Research Organization (CRO) in China, and Qiming Venture, a premier venture capital firm based in Shanghai join hands to grant asset injection to MacroStat, the unique CRO in China specialized in clinical data management and statistical analysis. The union between the two top CROs will significantly improve Tigermed's clinical data management serviceability and broaden MacroStat's business line.

''MacroStat has the leading talents and system in biostatistics, with absolute competitive advantage in China. Tigermed and MacroStat shall establish extensive strategic partnership in the management of clinical trials, data management and statistical analysis. Tigermed accumulated outstanding expertise in clinical trials, while MacroStat is an expert in biostatistics. Our cooperation shall expand Tigermed's business line and add professionalism to Tigermed's biostatistics services. The win-win cooperation between leading CROs with complementary advantages is conducive to constructing a higher level of CRO service chain and further updating full service capability, which also opens a fast track to the globalization of China CROs,'' comments Dr. Ye Xiaoping, CEO and founder of Tigermed.

Ms. Cao Xiaochun, Vice President of Tigermed, added, ''Tigermed pays close attention to MacroStat advantage in data management and statistical analysis. Besides Ms. Cao Xiaochun, Dr. Ye Xiaoping (CEO and founder of Tigermed) and Hu Xubo (Director of Healthcare Investment Sector of Qiming Venture) will also join in MacroStat's board of directors. The cooperation between Tigermed and MacroStat will not only satisfy global clients with international standards but also power the innovative drug development in China, making it possible to streamline clinical research cycle and considerably reduce drug R & D costs.''

''MacroStat has set up strategic partnerships with many multinational pharmaceutical and biotech companies and international CROs, and has become their preferential biostatistics vendor. MacroStat's customers are mainly from USA and Europe. With the new capital, MacroStat will further accelerate its development effectively, on one hand, keeping the unique advantage in biostatistics, one the other hand, extending business line into clinical trials, so as to provide more extensive and comprehensive services for the pharmaceutical industries.'' Comments Helen Yin, managing director of MacroStat China.

About MacroStat

MacroStat, an international CRO, founded in 2002 in USA, is one of the few professional CROs dedicated to providing clinical data management and statistical analysis services. MacroStat is specialized in providing data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) support for USA FDA, and statistical support to FDA, CVM, EPA, MAA, MCA and other agencies and Asian countries. MacroStat (China) was established in 2005 in Shanghai, and now becomes the unique CRO focused on biostatistics in China

About Tigermed

Tigermed Consulting Co., Ltd, a leading Contract Research Organization (CRO) in China, is expected to become the largest CRO in China within 3 years. With capital injection from Qiming Venture in 2008, Tigermed has entered into a period of rapid expansion. The combined asset injection to MacroStat marks a stride forward in Tigermed's internationalization strategic development. The extensive cooperation between Tigermed and MacroStat allows both to make a big step forward.

A report by the human resources consulting firm Mercer shows that 23 percent of companies surveyed in China said their senior executives' compensation in 2009 wouldn't increase as usual, showing the effects of the global financial slowdown.

The survey involved 59 companies in China, 76 percent of which were listed companies and 39 percent of which were multinationals. Mercer conducted similar surveys in other Asian countries, including India, South Korea, Japan and Singapore.

"In Asia, one third of companies surveyed said their senior executives' salaries wouldn't increase in 2009. The proportion in China is a little smaller than the average, reflecting China experiencing less impact of the financial crisis than other Asian countries," said Zheng Wei, managing director for Asia executive remuneration business with Mercer.

"Considering the deferred impact on China's market, we predicted that more companies in China will take similar measures to limit the senior executives' salaries in 2009," Zheng added.

BEIJING: Labor-related lawsuits nearly doubled in China last year mainly due to mass factory shutdowns, a senior official with the Supreme Court said.

A manufacturing powerhouse, China's factories were hard hit when overseas demand for their exports evaporated in the wake of the global financial crisis.

Shen Deyong, vice president of the Supreme People's Court, said at a news conference Monday that the number of labor-related lawsuits filed in 2008 jumped 95 percent, marking the biggest on-year increase of any type of suit.

He said most of the cases were filed in the country's coastal southeast, home to a string of factory hubs. In some areas, labor suits increased about 200 percent compared to 2007, he said, without giving specific figures.

The spike in labor lawsuits was "closely connected to businesses slumping and factories being shut down," he said.

"When they face difficulties, these businesses often reduce their costs by cutting the labor force and salaries," he said.

He said a new labor contract law that came into effect at the start of last year and rising public awareness of worker's rights also contributed to the rise in cases.

Unemployment is a major concern for China's communist leadership because of fears it could trigger social unrest and demands for political reform.

TAIPEI, March 4 (Reuters) - Taiwan electronics giant Hon Hai (2317.TW) said on Wednesday it had recently increased its number of employees in China by 5 percent despite the global downturn.

"In the short term, things are not as bad as they are made out to be," Chairman Terry Gou said at a signing ceremony between the company and IBM (IBM.N) on using green technology.

Gou did not specify when the company had increased its China workforce.

Hon Hai is a contract manufacturer that makes some of the world's most famous gadgets, including Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhone, Nokia (NOK1V.HE) cellphones and Nintendo's (7974.OS) Wii game console.

(Reporting by Kelvin Soh; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)

BEIJING, March 3 (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) on Monday named Kenneth Chan as its new chief executive officer in China, replacing Jeffrey Schwartz, the company said in a statement.

Chan, a Singaporean, has been with McDonald's for 12 years, most recently acting as regional manager in Malaysia, Taiwan and Korea, and managing director of its restaurants in Singapore.

Schwartz, a 40-year McDonald's veteran, will retire from the company, the statement said. (Reporting by Michael Wei; Editing by Ken Wills)

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday showed his concern over the country's jobless migrant workers and other unemployed people and encouraged them to start self-employment.

Wen said he had been deeply concerned over the employment issue, including those of migrant workers, college graduates and jobless urban families.

He was in response to a netizen's question on-line saying "as one member of the migrant labor force I felt very difficult to find jobs when the financial woes unfolded." The netizen said he hoped to start his own business via small loans which could be repayed in three or five years.

"Your requirement is reasonable," he said while chatting with netizens at the central government website (www.gov.cn).

"Employment is not only related to one's livelihood but also one's dignity," Wen said.

Migrant workers were a special social group born in China's social transition after the initiation of the reform and opening-up policy.

Earlier official figures show about 15.3 percent of the 130 million migrant workers had returned jobless from cities to the countryside against the backdrop of the global economic downturn.

Wen said he acknowledged that the statistics were not quite accurate as some people believed the number of laid-off migrant workers amounted to 20 million and others said the number was about 12 million.

"We do not want to comment the accuracy of the statistics at the moment. The fact is that the financial crisis has caused a huge impact on migrant workers," he said.

As a saying goes "a city fire causes calamity to pond fish", Wen said migrant workers bore the most severe impact of the financial woes.

He said migrant workers did not have much complaint over the government and quietly returned to their hometowns, "some engaging in farming again, others still seeking jobs."

Wen said the government should encourage them to start their own business by offering tax stimulus and training opportunities.

China's State Council, or the cabinet, issued a notice on February 10 that urged governments at all levels to make every possible effort to expand employment.

"I want to take the opportunity to extend my gratitude to our migrant workers," he said, adding they had made great contribution to the nation.

WASHINGTON: Loss of tens of thousands of skilled immigrants to countries like China and India "is an economic catastrophe that will hurt US

competitiveness for decades to come", says Vivek Wadhwa, lead author of a new study done at leading American universities.

Wadhwa and his team at Duke, Harvard and Berkeley universities uncovered several trends in their study on the plight of 1,203 skilled immigrants who came to the US from China and India to work or study and returned home:

* Most returnees originally came to the United States for career and educational opportunities. The majority of returnees cited career and quality of life as primary reasons to return to their home countries.

* The most common professional factor (86.8 percent of Chinese and 79.0 percent of Indians) motivating workers to return home was the growing demand for their skills in their home countries.

* Returnees also believed that their home countries provided better career opportunities than they could find in America.

* Most respondents (53.5 percent of Indian and 60.7 percent of Chinese) said opportunities to start their own businesses were better in their home countries.

* Most respondents (56.6 percent of Indians and 50.2 percent of Chinese) indicated that they would be likely to start a business in the next five years.

* Being close to family and friends was a significant consideration in the decision to return home, with many returnees considering their opportunities to care for ageing parents to be much better in their home countries (89.4 percent of Indians and 78.8 percent of Chinese).

* Most of the Indian and Chinese immigrant subjects who returned to their home countries were relatively young (in their low-30s) and were very well educated. Nearly 90 percent held master's and PhD degrees, primarily in management, technology or science.

* Immigrants historically have provided one of America's greatest competitive advantages. Between 1990 and 2007, the proportion of immigrants in the US labour force increased from 9.3 percent to 15.7 percent, and a large and growing proportion of immigrants bring high levels of education and skill to the US.

* Immigrants have contributed disproportionately in the most dynamic part of the US economy - the high-tech sector - co-founding firms such as Google, Intel, eBay and Yahoo.

* In addition, immigrant inventors contributed to more than a quarter of US global patent applications. Immigrant-founded US-based companies employed 450,000 workers and generated $52 billion in revenue in 2006.

China's huge state aircraft maker AVIC said on Thursday it will look beyond national borders to recruit foreign executives who can help it compete internationally.

The unusual global recruitment effort comes just months after the Aviation Industry Corporation of China was formed by the merger of two state aircraft makers, focusing on big projects such as a locally developed regional jet to reduce China's reliance on Boeing and Airbus.

The move by the AVIC group, which consists of more than 200 enterprises and 21 listed companies, was out of the norm for a secretive company that also builds the aviation hardware for China's military.

"Our goal is to become globally competitive," Gao Jianshe, the group's executive vice president, told reporters. "And to do that, we need executives with international experience."

The group, which notched up 2008 sales of CNY166 billion yuan (USD$24.3 billion), compared with USD$60.1 billion for Boeing, aims to recruit 13 vice presidents to assist in a broad range of activities including research, asset management, business development and marketing.

The recruitment move comes after Boeing posted an unexpected fourth-quarter loss and said it could cut 10,000 job this year, while expecting more plane order cancellations.

AVIC's move towards globalisation is not confined to staff.

State media said last month that China welcomed investors to take a 30 percent stake in its newly incorporated jet engine company -- in which AVIC holds a 40 percent stake -- that supplies engines to the regional jet ARJ21.

China has signed up a total of 208 orders for the ARJ21, unveiled in late 2007, but the vast majority are from domestic carriers.