Recruiting in China

The strength in the pipeline of the economy and the growing lack of skills required by employers is seen in the starting salaries for new graduates which are now said to be their best since the tech-boom period that ended in about 2000. The Australian Graduate Employers¡¯ 2007 survey reveals that vacancies have risen nearly 14 per cent compared to last year with median salaries climbing from $43,000 to $45,700 for 2007.

The Graduates Careers Australia research shows that just over 40 per cent of employers wanted to hire more graduates if they were available and just over half of those surveyed reported trouble recruiting in particular fields. About 23 per cent of companies had problems recruiting in the IT sector and about 19 per cent had problems finding graduates in mathematics, statistics and science.

Today Australia will continue talks with China on removing foreign equity restrictions on the legal, banking, insurance and education professions as part of ongoing free-trade talks. While Australia is attempting to protect the clothing, footwear and textiles industries and to improve the situation for the agricultural and services industries, China has called these industries sensitive.

Peter Bell