Category: "Living & Working in China"
It is time to think hard about jobs
November 21st, 2008Three years ago, 3.38 million teenagers went off to college, hoping that higher education would lead to a bright future.
These days, many of those students are cutting class to attend jobs fairs, which began Sunday in Tianjin and Dalian and will be opening in various cities across the country this week, with some 530,000 jobs on offer.
According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, students majoring in business management, electronics and information, economics, engineering, foreign languages, construction and architecture, medicine, law, transportation, and chemistry and pharmaceuticals have the best chance of landing a job.
Despite the ministry's upbeat announcement, the job prospects for this year's college graduates are, frankly, not too bright.
The world is suffering from a global credit crunch. It seems virtually no country will escape economic recession.
In the US alone, millions of families may lose their homes. Consumer spending has ground to a halt, meaning that there will be far less demand for products from China. Already, as orders decline and exports shrink, tens of thousands of enterprises have closed down, while many others have cut back their production and employment.
Last year, 34.2 percent of China's 3.5 million college graduates landed jobs with private businesses. How many such jobs will be available this year?
Some 350 businesses have listed about 30,000 positions on a job-placement website for university graduates. In the same period last year, 450 enterprises offered 50,000 jobs.
No wonder both the Internet and traditional media are filled with advice for worried job-seekers. Unfortunately, much of this advice raises unrealistically high hopes, hopes that in many cases are destined to be dashed.
Personally, I believe there is too much emphasis on starting salaries. In a recent online poll, only 3.81 percent of prospective college graduates said they did not care about starting salary, and less than 10 percent said they'd accept a starting salary of less than 1,500 yuan.
It has been suggested that the government set a minimum salary for college graduates. While I don't think college graduates should enjoy a special minimum salary, the state at least should compile accurate information about the job market and provide it to graduates in a timely manner.
Colleges and universities, too, must shoulder more responsibility for helping job-seekers. Institutions of higher learning should not forget the heady days three years ago, when they claimed their employment rate was somewhere around 99 percent.
Ultimately, however, the responsibility for their future rests on the graduates themselves. They must think hard about what they want to do and make realistic choices as they look for jobs.
Frankly, the attitude of some college graduates leaves a lot to be desired. Back in the 1980s, I remember one new tour guide telling a colleague that she couldn't care less whether the foreign tourists she was looking after caught a cold or not. Such attitudes are intolerable in any workplace.
Over the years, I've helped quite a number of talented young people join China Daily. They came with a clear interest in writing for a newspaper. Their first assignments were often not the challenging, important tasks they dreamed off, but they persevered. One young colleague of mine worked the night shift for three months for free, just to get a job.
Eventually, those who showed devotion, discipline, and creativity won the trust of the editors. They are the ones who have been steadfast in their work and have become good reporters and editors.
To get a good job, today's graduates have only themselves to depend on.
Steps taken to stabilize job market
November 20th, 2008China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has announced a series of measures to stabilize employment amid the global financial crisis.
In a circular on Monday, the ministry urged local governments to maintain a stable employment market by strengthening the pre-warning and regulation system on unemployment.
Companies have to seek local labor bureaus' for permission before mass layoffs or stopping recruitment.
The circular encourages State-owned enterprises do their best to minimize the number of layoffs. People who have lost their jobs because of bankrupt enterprises should be given the entire amount of unemployment insurance payment on time.
It calls for development of labor-intensive industries. Local governments should accord priority to developing key enterprises in labor-intensive industries, and improve relevant polices of financial support, credit financing and social service.
The ministry has laid emphasis on efforts to help university graduates, laid-off workers and people in impoverished areas find jobs. Calling for more efforts to implement a pro-active employment policy, it has stressed that laid-off workers of bankrupt enterprises be helped to find jobs.
Local government officials should visit enterprises and communities to register laid-off people, it said.
They should ensure basic living conditions for laid-off people, and provide employment services such as job training and guidance to help them find jobs as soon as possible.
China to monitor possible mass layoffs, large-scale labor disputes
November 19th, 2008BEIJING, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- As mass layoffs and labor disputes become more frequent when global economic slowdown wipes out more companies from business, Chinese government has urged local authorities to make best efforts to properly respond.
The top priority should be given to ensuring stable employment, said China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) in a notice issued on Monday.
Investigation should be carried out concerning individual companies' possible layoffs, especially labor-intensive factories, it said. The labor situation of companies that go bankrupt should be closely monitored.
In October, Local government in Dongguan of Guangdong Province, where many labor-intensive companies located, took out more than 24 million yuan (3.5 million U.S. dollars) to compensate for the salaries of over 7,000 workers, who was left helpless when a company owner secretly fled.
Emergency plans should be formulated in order to better prevent and deal with incidents involving a large group of unemployed workers, and make sure to report to higher level of the government and make appropriate arrangement as soon as possible, it said.
An efficient and convenient channel should be created for people to appeal for arbitration of labor disputes, so as to resolve major or mass disputes in time, it said.
The notice also required that arrangements be made to guarantee unemployment insurance, encourage reemployment, and better serve the migrant workers.
China opens nationwide job fairs for graduates amid global financial crisis
November 18th, 2008China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security started a weeklong job-hunting service campaign on Sunday to help university graduates get employed amid the global financial crisis.
Nationwide job fairs and online recruitments will offer more than 520,000 job vacancies for the graduates.
Statistics showed that about six million students will graduate from universities and colleges next year and some 800,000 of this year's graduates are still awaiting job offers.
Si Yilei, director of the ministry's National Center for Human Resources, said besides the job fairs, the ministry would also provide consultations on job-hunting, give guidance and training to the graduates who choose to start their own business, and establish a database of unemployed graduates.
Vice Minister Zhang Xiaojian said the graduates would face severe challenge in job-hunting due to the global financial crisis.
"It's significant to the social stability of helping the graduates to get employed," Zhang said.
More job opportunities in less-developed central and western parts of China will be offered to the graduates, he said.
Creating jobs for migrant workers top govt agenda
November 17th, 2008The government's latest economic stimulus plan could create at least one million jobs by the end of the year, in turn curbing rapid unemployment among migrant workers hit by a looming global recession, a senior researcher has said.
The $586-billion stimulus package will help ease unemployment from export-oriented enterprises in the coastal regions shutting down or cutting costs amid the global financial downturn, Liu Junsheng from the labor-wage institute of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said on Tuesday.
The country will invest 100 billion yuan by the end of the year as part of the package, said the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner.
About one-third of the investment will go into improving infrastructure, boosting agricultural competitiveness and building up the social security network in the rural regions, sources close to the central government have said.
"This can directly bring new jobs for surplus labor in the rural regions," Liu said.
"All these investments can create new jobs in towns and villages," Liu said.
While the number of jobs created by the massive infrastructure projects will be considerable, it is equally important to stem the decline arising from the export sectors, Cai Fang, a labor economics specialist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, said yesterday.
"The stimulus projects for infrastructure nationwide will bring in a huge army of laborers and I'm sure a large number of migrant workers will return to construction sites for new work," said Cai, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
"But the projects are still limited to infrastructure, which is not sufficient."
"We believe the stimulus plan will create new jobs, but the government should pay equal attention to laborers in export-oriented enterprises. These enterprises may have been under pressure for a relatively long period of time," Cai said.
"The central government's fiscal policy has also stimulated the international community and we hope there will be more policies of the same caliber, both from the central and local governments, to support small businesses focusing on export," he said.
The government should also use the momentum to spend more and revamp its social security system, to further help laborers deal with the economic challenges, Cai said.
"Most laborers worry about their welfare, retirement funds or unemployment benefits. The government should address these worries," said Cai, who also suggested the government continue to remove the individual income tax from more low-income laborers.
Still, Cai said local authorities should not interfere in the job market to deal with unemployment.
Some local governments recently raised the standard wage for low-income workers, putting added pressure on enterprises and causing more unemployment, he said.
"These enterprises are facing their most difficult time, so the government, the enterprises and the laborers should go through this difficult time together," Cai said.
China, which holds the world's largest population of 1.3 billion, stands to face tremendous pressure from the 10 million people entering the workforce every year.
The government has set a target of maintaining at least 9 percent economic growth over the next two years, while the country is expected to keep its unemployment rate at about 4 percent, excluding migrant workers.
The country has about 200 million migrant workers, of whom 120 million move from rural areas to work in cities, figures from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security showed.
The largest number of migrant workers comes from Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces, as well as the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
There has been an increasing number of migrant workers heading home to Chongqing municipality and Sichuan, Hunan and Hubei from the major exporting base of Guangdong in the past few weeks, the ministry said.
Hubei province alone registered 300,000 migrant workers returning home during the last two months, the Wuhan-based Chutian Metropolis Daily reported.
Similarly, the Hunan provincial administration of human resources and social security estimated that 2.8 million migrant workers will return to the province in the coming year, the local Xiaoxiang Morning Post reported.
Human Resources and Social Security Minister Yin Weimin said earlier this month that although 57,608 enterprises went bankrupt in Guangdong province, there were still 92,609 newly registered companies in the first three quarters of the year, which helped the province maintain a 10.4-percent growth rate.
However, in the third quarter of this year, the number of job vacancies in Guangdong was much lower than the previous year, and growth rate of newly created jobs has slowed down, Yin said.
Nannies hit by financial crisis
November 13th, 2008With the financial crisis' heightening sense of menace, many are reconsidering what they can and can't afford - and employing a nanny at 30,000 yuan ($4,280) a year is falling into the latter category.
With a demanding job working for a multinational company, 27-year-old Ding Ting must now come home from the office and cook, care and clean for her children after being forced to let her nanny go.
"It's a difficult time - every bit counts. After all, it's not a small amount for employing a nanny," Ding said, having relished the services of her nanny for the past two years.
"The possibility of being made redundant has been a sword of Damocles hanging over me since the crisis broke, and the problems are just starting.
"This has brought a huge stress to daily life."
The hurricane howling through the world's financial markets has left an oversupply of nannies in its wake.
A source from a local domestic service company said the city's nanny market had dropped 20 to 30 percent in the past year, with nannies' average salaries also decreasing from 2,000-2,500 yuan to 1,300-1,800 yuan.
The golden era for nannies in the city has come to a shuddering halt, Gong Linfang, president of Shanghai Pudong district domestic service association, said yesterday.
Local government founded the association in March to standardize and develop what was then a booming domestic service industry.
"The boom time for nannies in recent years looks to be ending now," she said.
"Nannies are among the first to be hit when times start to get tough.
It is the hardest year for business of domestic service," she added.
Li Rong, owner of Shanghai-based Laibang Nannies Company, said: "In the last month or two I have started receiving calls from employers saying they will stop employing nannies or switching to employ hourly waged nannies due to the depressed global economy and apprehension about future uncertainties."
Meanwhile, insiders also attribute the current oversupply to a flood of workers laid off as businesses have failed.
"Fees for hourly-waged nannies have decreased from 15 yuan to 12 yuan, and at times even to the low of seven yuan, putting it back by two or three years," said Xiao He, a nanny from Sichuan province with four years experience in home service.
"Normally at this time of the year, a rush of people come and look for nannies. But it hasn't happened yet.
Some nanny companies have teamed up to weather the storm to share information from both employers and nannies in the city.
"That will give us a competitive edge in the shrinking market," Li Rong said.
Hard times for migrant workers in Guangdong
November 10th, 2008Thousands of migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta are packing up and heading home, as jobs and decent wages in the region become increasingly hard to find.
"There just wasn't enough work; I was barely making my basic salary," Wen Caixia, who quit her job at a shoe factory in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, in favor of a return to her village in Hubei Province, told China Daily yesterday at Guangzhou East Railway Station.
Migrant workers who quit their jobs in Guangdong Province arrive in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, November 3, 2008. [China Daily]
Wen said she and her husband had been working in Dongguan for more than two years.
"Over the past few months, the company just wasn't getting enough orders. There was never any chance of overtime, so we were unable to save any money," she said.
"The living costs are very high here, so I think it's better if I go home and take care of my son," she said.
Before boarding her train, Wen said she hoped to return to the province in January for the Spring Festival.
"It might be easier to find a job then, and hopefully I'll be able to make more money," she said.
Also waiting for a train yesterday was Liang Dong, an IT engineer who said he was taking a sabbatical from his job at a printed circuit board factory in the Nanhai district of Foshan.
"The company has seen its orders plummet since the beginning of the financial crisis," he said.
"My boss said that I could take a long holiday, but it will be very hard to make a decent living."
Liang said he will have a good rest before deciding whether to return to Guangdong or look for work elsewhere.
A ticket seller surnamed Guan at Guangzhou East Station, said that over the past few weeks there had been a marked increase in the number of migrant workers heading home to Chongqing and Sichuan, Hunan and Hubei provinces.
Liang Jiamin, an official with the Guangdong labor department, said on Thursday: "Many workers have lost their jobs or gone without pay as a result of firms going bust or downsizing their operations.
"Labor and social security departments across the province, especially those based in the Pearl River Delta region, have been told to do all they can to help people get the money they are owed," he said.
"We are also trying to help people to find new jobs," Liang said.
In the third quarter of this year, the number of job vacancies in Guangdong fell by almost 17 percent year on year to 2.1 million, he said.
Gov't foots shoe firm's wage bill
November 7th, 2008Public funds have been used to cover the 7 million yuan ($1 million) owed in back pay to employees of the collapsed Dongguan Weixu Shoe Company, a spokesman for the Chang'an town government said yesterday.
The press official, surnamed Chen, told China Daily that a series of measures has been introduced to deal with the aftermath of the closure of the Chang'an-based firm, which is owned by investors from Taiwan.
"When we learned on Saturday that the boss of the company had fled, we set up a task force to deal with workers' grievances and other matters arising from the incident," he said.
"The government has advanced about 7 million yuan to cover the wages of the 2,000-odd workers."
Chen said the government had been in contact with the boss of the firm and set a deadline of Tuesday for his return to discuss possible solutions.
"As he failed to return, the local government will take possession of the factory and auction off its equipment, as it is entitled to do under the law," he said.
Luo Hongliang, one of the 2,000 people left jobless by the shoemaker's demise, said yesterday that although he is grateful to the government for paying his wages, he fears for his future.
"The welfare package was good; I got more than 2,000 yuan, which covered my salary and overtime pay," he said.
"My fear now is that although some other factories are recruiting, I will probably have to take a pay cut.
"I just can't understand how such a big factory could close all of a sudden," he said.
"We've all been talking about what might have happened; some people have said the company had cash flow problems," Luo said.
According to a report in yesterday's Nanfang Metropolis Daily, the firm had been experiencing financial difficulties following a period of rapid expansion.
The final straw came when one of its partners withdrew 50 million yuan from the firm, it said.
Huang Chunming, secretary-general of the Dongguan leather and footwear association, claimed the boss of the firm had also been accused of defrauding his suppliers, the report said without elaborating.
Motorola staff facing layoffs
November 6th, 2008Telecommunications company Motorola Inc yesterday said it will cut the number of its employees in China as part of a global layoff plan amid financial turbulence.
The company is currently under an internal evaluation of its Chinese operations, which is aimed at reducing costs and streamlining its products, Chen Lei, spokesman for Motorola China, told China Daily. Details of the layoff may be disclosed in the next few months, he said.
Motorola last week announced a plan to cut 3,000 workers worldwide, with nearly 2,000 from its handset division. The announcement came after the firm disclosed a disappointing third quarter result, in which net losses amounted to $397 million, compared with a profit of $60 million one year ago.
Chen said Motorola's arm in China will get more resources from its headquarters in the United States after a planned restructuring is completed. He said China's strategic position in the company will be intensified.
Foiled by its inability to extend the success of its Razr mobile phone, Motorola's share in the global handset market shrank to 8.4 percent in the third quarter of this year, down from 9.5 percent in the second quarter and 22.4 percent in 2006, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
The company has also been struggling in the country from fierce competition by market leader Nokia, as well as the rising number of domestic venders and hundreds of pirated handset makers. According to research firm GFK China, Motorola's market share in China dropped from nearly 20 percent in 2006 to less than 10 percent this year.
Such sluggish performance was said to have led to the unexpected resignation of Ren Weiguang, head of Motorola's mobile business in China, at the end of last month.
Earlier this year, Motorola announced its decision to spin off its mobile division to turn around its handset business. But the reduced growth rate of global handset shipments in the third quarter, driven by the financial crisis, has clouded the company's revival plan.
Pang Jun, analyst from GFK China, said the long-term effects of Motorola's layoff plan are still unclear, but the move will at least help the company stem its bleeding in the short term. "The financial crisis will have a significant impact on all the mobile phone makers," he said.
Pang said the growth of the mobile phone market in China, the world's largest handset market, may drop to 15 percent this year, down from 30 percent last year. "The growth rate might be even lower in 2009," he added.
PwC to hire 2,000 graduates in 2009
November 5th, 2008Pricewater-houseCoopers (PwC) plans to hire about 2,000 graduates in China next year, as part of its long-term plan to expand in the country despite the global credit crunch, the firm's China operations head said yesterday.
PwC, one of the world's "Big Four" auditing firms, also plans to retain the pace of hiring for the next three to five years and will open new offices in the country "very soon" to support its rapid business growth, said Frank Lyn, PwC's China markets leader.
Lyn added that Chinese companies intending to expand in the West through mergers and acquisitions could wait another six to nine months when deals are expected to be cheaper.
"The current economic crisis is something that everyone is very, very concerned about," Lyn said.
"But if you take a longer-term view and the fact that we're here to stay, we are not just hiring for now but ready to train our people for the next five to 10 years," he said.
Last year, PwC hired 1,800 graduates and 800 experienced executives in China, Lyn said, adding it would be difficult to forecast how many experienced staff would be hired next year because the market environment will be different.
PwC has about 11,000 employees in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau.
Global financial crisis spills over China's labor market
November 4th, 2008BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- In the space of a year, Yang Chanjuan's career plan has changed direction. A soon-to-graduate college student in economics, Yang is feeling her fortunes being buffeted by the financial crisis.
Yang was recently told by her schoolmates already working in the financial sector that their companies would cut staff, or there would no bonus this year. Amid the turmoil and full of uncertainty, a job in banking or securities company was no longer desirable to her. As a result, she decided to apply for a government job.
Migrant workers fill in application forms at a job fair in Chongqing, southwest China on Jan. 1, 2008. International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated earlier that the financial crisis would cost 20 million jobs globally by the end of 2009. (Xinhua Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>
Yang's change in career plan came as the financial crisis is spreading around the world. As it is now beginning to hit the real economy, more and more people, not only those in banks, have lost their jobs.
International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated earlier that the financial crisis would cost 20 million jobs globally by the end of 2009. The ILO said the new projections could prove to be underestimates if the effects of the current economic turmoil are not quickly confronted and plans laid for the looming recession.
In the birthplace of the crisis, the United States, big companies from Goldman Sachs to Coca Cola, Motorola to Alcoa, have all announced their job cut plans. Economists believed the jobless total could increase by 200,000.
Back to China, unemployment now becomes a concern too. Although with 2-trillion U.S. dollars of foreign reserves, a budget surplus and a controlled capital market, China would suffer limited direct impact from the crisis. However, weakening demand from its major markets, North America and Europe, is now leading China's real economy in the export sectors into a tough situation.
In China's coastal areas, export enterprises are now struggling with soaring labor cost and fewer orders from foreign customers. Many toy factories in South China's Guangdong Province were shut from January to July this year.
Earlier last month, two big factories of a Hong Kong listed toy-maker were shut. As a result, 7,000 workers lost their jobs. Affected by the global financial crisis, the company was suspended from trading thus it faced severe shortage of current funds.
Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce showed that China's export suffered a growth slowdown in the first three quarters compared with the same period last year -- from 27.1 percent to 22.3 percent. The government said the gross domestic product (GDP)growth rate in the first three quarters this year slowed to 9.9 percent - a 2.3 percentage points fall compared with the same period last year.
"The greatest impact is on these labor-intensive, small and medium-sized export enterprises," said Wang Dewen, a labor economist from China Academy of Social Sciences.
These export-oriented enterprises that make China the world's workshop, are mainly small and medium-sized and vulnerable to market changes. These are China's major employers, absorbing 70 percent of the aggregate 20-million new jobs every year.
Wang said that the lower-end labor market, especially the migrant workers who are the biggest source of employees in the export enterprises, would suffer from unemployment. As the crisis is now just beginning to hit the real economy, the whole situation could be worse if there is no countermeasure.
The fear of unemployment is also hovering over other places. College students and white-collar workers are now worried about their future in the open market.
Yahoo to lay off at least 10% of workforce
November 3rd, 2008Internet giant Yahoo announced on Tuesday that it planned to lay off at least 10 percent of its workforce over the next few months as sales declined for the third consecutive quarter this year.
At least 1,500 employees will lose their jobs as part of Yahoo's cost-saving plan, which Yahoo hoped would reduce costs by 400 million U.S. dollars a year.
The company said it would also achieve "substantial additional cost savings" by addressing "structural inefficiencies."
Also on Tuesday, Yahoo said its third-quarter sales, excluding commissions, were 1.32 billion dollars, a decrease of 21 million from the previous quarter.
Its third quarter profits were 54.3 million dollars, or 4 cents per share, down 77 million dollars from the previous quarter, a 64-percent decline.
In a statement, Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang said that economic conditions and online advertising had softened during the third quarter.
Yahoo now projects that 2008 revenue will be between 7.18 billion and 7.38 billion dollars, down from a forecast, issued three months ago, of 7.35 billion to 7.85 billion.
Yang said the company would continue to balance the investment in new products with a tight control on costs.
"Despite a tough environment, we remain optimistic about Yahoo's future," he said during a conference call with analysts.
Following the release of the third quarter revenue report, Yahoo shares lost 6.1 percent, or 79 cents, to 12.07 dollars in regular trading on Tuesday and then gained more than 5 percent in after-hours trading.
New law won't raise labor cost
October 31st, 2008The new labor contract law does not increase any labor costs for lawful enterprises, says an article on the website of People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:
When facing the same labor contract law, enterprises have different views about its impact upon labor costs. As a textile factory owner in Fujian province said, the law tilts in favor of employees, pushing up labor costs and thus squeezing the room for development; while the boss of Anta, a sports shoes producer in Fujian, believed that it does not affect their normal operation and will contribute to merger and restructuring, boosting their development.
On Oct 7, Sun Chunlan, vice-chairwoman of All-China Federation of Trade Unions, told the press that the recent bankruptcy of small- and medium-sized enterprises has nothing to do with the implementation of the labor contract law.
The plight faced by SMEs is mainly because of the worsened international economic situation such as the fluctuation of exchange rates, weak foreign demands and domestic policies about taxation and finance. And the labor contract law in fact does not increase the labor costs of enterprises. The reasons are as follows:
First, the labor contract law does add some labor costs for enterprises that had seldom obeyed the labor law in the past. The previous labor laws and regulations in China already clarified what the employers should pay for employees including salaries, social security, welfare, housing fund and overtime compensation.
The newly enforced labor contract law only adds the requirement that employers should compensate for the termination of labor contracts with employees. So, if employers renew the contracts with employees or employees volunteer to quit their work, employers do not need to pay this compensation.
Second, some employers reduced their labor costs by adopting abnormal practices such as not paying social security for employees before the enactment of the labor contract law.
As a survey conducted in Guangdong province showed, the payment of social security for employees accounts for 2 percent of the total costs of an enterprise. The new labor contract law demands unlawful employers to make the payment of social security, leaving them with the feeling that labor costs have been raised by this new law. But we should note that social security payment is what employers should have offered and thus it does not increase labor costs for employers who have already paid this money to employees.
Therefore, in practice, it is those employers who had adopted illegal practices and seldom obeyed labor laws in the past who believe the labor contract law would increase their burdens.
The growth of an enterprise cannot be achieved at the expense of the legal rights of employees. It is not correct to regard the expenditures that should have been paid by enterprises as their increased labor costs.
The new labor contract law has just stripped unlawful enterprises of their inappropriate profits. It is a protection for lawful enterprises. Instead of weakening their competitive edge, it can bring new growth opportunities for them.
Global crisis eating up jobs at home
October 29th, 2008Yang Xiaxi seldom paid attention to the happenings in the US because he thought they had nothing to do with him.
Laid-off workers of bankrupt toy-maker, Smart Union, board a bus on Friday to downtown Dongguan to find a job. [China Daily]
But now he realizes he was wrong because in a globalized world, a financial crisis on the other side of the globe can cause a person his job even in Dongguan, Guangdong province.
Though he describes himself as an experienced and professional art designer, he has been out of a job since his former employer, Smart Union, folded up 10 days ago. The Hong Kong-listed toy-maker cited weakening US orders and rising costs, to file for bankruptcy on Oct 17.
"It's a cutthroat job market," he said yesterday. "Some firms are offering a salary just equal to the province's minimum monthly salary (about 800 yuan, or $120), which I cannot accept, while others have closed their doors to job applicants even if they are not downsizing their existing staff."
Manufacturers in the Pearl River Delta region, China's economic engine, are now struggling to keep afloat after the worst Wall Street meltdown since the 1930s has shrunk the demand for Chinese goods.
Universities in Guangdong have seen fewer firms going for campus recruitments.
Huang Yongping, a teacher in the employment guide center of Guangzhou's Sun Yat-sen University, said several big firms have cited the global financial crisis as a reason for doing away with or deferring their campus recruitment plans. "And fewer small- and medium-sized firms have approached us this year."
University students are finding it difficult to get a job in the Yangtze River Delta region, China's other economic powerhouse, too.
Jobs offered to Zhejiang University students have fallen by about 30 percent compared with last year, said Zhou Min, an international commerce major of the university.
Competition for jobs also looks exceptionally fierce in Shanghai, which houses many financial institutions that have been hit hard by the financial crisis.
Xu Wei, 22, has a prestigious university degree, internship with several multinational companies and is fluent in oral and written English. But the English major of Shanghai International Studies University still cannot get an interview call for a job.
"I have applied online for more than 30 jobs and visited various job fairs but have got no reply," Xu said.
Tang Xiaolin, director of Fudan University's career development center, said: "There is no doubt the global financial crisis has hurt job growth in China."
Worsening the situation will be the entry of 6 million fresh graduates into the job market next year - 7 percent more than this year, according to official figures.
Equal job opportunities called for rural and urban residents
October 28th, 2008Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said on Saturday farmers should share equal job opportunities with urban residents, which was key to realize the government goal of doubling farmer's income by 2020.
Farmers were encouraged to start their own business and local government should work out more favourable policies including preferential taxation and easier market access to help farmers find jobs and business opportunities, Hui said at a prize award ceremony of the elite rural entrepreneurs.
The reform and innovation of the rural banking system should be pushed forward so as to resolve the rural residents' problem of cash shortage in starting their own business, Hui said.
China vowed to double rural residents' income from the current level by the end of 2012 as a part of the plan aimed to revitalize the country's rural area and agriculture, which was proved on the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Communist Party of China Central Committee.
Hui said vocational training for rural people should be enhanced to allow more migrant workers to go back to their hometown to run business.
Survey: Fund management companies offer highest earning jobs in 2007
October 22nd, 2008Thanks to last year's bullish market, the financial sector provided the most lucrative jobs in China and fund management talents topped the 2007 salary rankings, The Economic Observer reported on Monday.
Executives, fund managers and high-caliber investment researchers were the top earners, according to Taihe Consulting, a human resources company, after conducting a survey on 15 large fund management companies in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen.
Industry insiders have attributed the high earnings to a shortage of fund management talents and the thriving fund businesses in 2007.
Even the current bearish market has not shown an adverse effect on fund employees' incomes yet.
Statistics collected by Taihe in June indicated no signs of fixed income reductions among fund management employees. And flexible income was closely related to companies' performances, it found. Some companies can still collect remarkable management fees in 2008 that are no less than last year's, Taihe said.
The cash income of an employee comprises a fixed part and a flexible part in addition to their benefit package. The fixed part is made up of basic salary and allowances, and the flexible, accounting for 30 to 40 percent of the total income, is given as a merit-based bonus, such as year-end bonuses, or as sales commissions. Some positions even offer a flexible income that takes up as much as 50 percent of the total.
An employee with a Shenzhen-based fund management said: "The fixed salary was set at the beginning of the year, so there would be no big change. The flexible part may vary from person to person…some fund managers won't necessarily get a smaller year-end bonus, because the payment is based on the rankings of fund performances."
By contrast, listed securities companies already registered a year-on-year drop of 8.6 percent in salary payments in the first half of 2008, with some employees' incomes reduced by more than 60 percent, according to a report by Shanghai Securities News in August.
From a regional perspective, fund management companies in Shanghai, a national financial hub, offered the most lucrative jobs in 2007, Taihe's survey showed. Beijing came second and Shenzhen third.
The consulting company found that the lower-end salaries of fund management, real estate and high-tech sectors were quite similar. But at the very top level, the financial sector offered salaries that doubled what the high-tech gave, with real estate coming somewhere in between.
"Financial employees earned much higher salaries than people in the other industries in 2007," a Taihe analyst said. "And undoubtedly the most lucrative jobs came from the fund sector."
Hong Kong's jobless rate climbs 3.4%
October 21st, 2008HONG KONG, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 3.4 percent in July-September period from 3.2 percent in June-August 2008, reversing the decrease seen earlier in the year, revealed the latest figures released by the Census and Statistics Department here Monday.
Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, Secretary for Labor and Welfare, warned that the September figures might not have reflected the impact of the global financial turmoil, which is now beginning to be felt.
"Looking ahead, unemployment is likely to rise further in the near term," he said, pointing to some sectors bound to be affected by a contraction in business triggered by the global economic crisis.
According to the department's latest statistics, provisional number of unemployed persons rose by around 4,900 from 129,100 in June-August to 134,000 in July-September.
The provisional underemployment rate, however, decreased from 1. 9 percent to 1.8 percent over the same period of last year as some summer workers returned to schools upon the start of the new academic year.
Comparing July-September with June-August period, increases in the unemployment rate were mainly observed in the wholesale and retail, restaurants, manufacturing and financing sectors.
As to the underemployment rate, decreases were mainly seen in the decoration and maintenance and transport sectors.
Cheung said the Labor Department will closely monitor the situation and stands ready to help the affected employees, vowing to continue enhancing its employment services and the competitiveness of the local workforce through education, training and retraining services and job search facilitation.
"In the long run, the implementation of the major infrastructure projects will help create employment opportunities and economic benefits," he said.
Cheung noted that the Hong Kong government had proposed to introduce a series of facilitating measures to improve the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Funding Schemes with a view to strengthening support to SMEs and will continue to discuss with them and listen to their views.
"I believe SMEs could benefit from these measures. I hope that employers could actively consider job restructuring or job sharing as an option to tide over the difficult period," he added.
Lighting firms increase tech input
October 17th, 2008Energy-efficient lighting manufacturers are increasing their technological input to improve the life of new bulbs and cut prices.
Guangdong Shunxiang Energy-Saving Lighting Technology has developed a new kind of energy-saving bulb that could save up to 70 percent of the electricity used by traditional incandescent bulbs.
The life of the light bulb could reach more than 60,000 hours, 10 times that of regular energy-saving lamps and 100 times more than incandescent light bulbs, according to General Manager Lin Weihe.
"Our lamps with new technology only need to be changed every 10 years, but in the same period, a mercury vapor lamp or sodium vapor lamp would have to be changed 15 times," Lin told China Daily.
The company, headquartered in Chaozhou, Guangdong province, is displaying its latest products at the ongoing 10th China Hi-tech Fair in Shenzhen.
The company plans to invest 500 million yuan in a new plant, which could be operational by 2010, with an annual production capacity of 3 million units.
European Union countries will ban the use of incandescent light bulbs in favor of energy-efficient lightings, following the United States and Australia, by the end of this decade.
China is also actively promoting the use of energy-saving lighting. It plans to sell at least 150 million highly efficient energy-saving light bulbs from 2006 to 2010.
Financial crisis spurs interest in civil service jobs
October 16th, 2008Civil service jobs have gradually become popular again with growing numbers of graduates nominating them as their "ideal jobs".
Amid the current global financial crisis' implications for the private sector, the website for national civil service exams crashed on its first live day on Monday, the Beijing Morning Post reported Tuesday.
A recent China Youth Daily survey on Netease.com shows around 86 percent of the 2,440 respondents considered taking the exam in a bid to join the public sector.
"The reason is simple," a Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security official, who refused to be named, said. "In China, civil servant jobs means good payment, decent social status and permanent social welfare. There is low risk of being fired."
People walk past the gate of the State Administration of Civil Service in Beijing in this August 30 file photo. [CFP]
China will recruit 13,566 civil servants this year, according to the newly released civil service enrollment brochure.
Among the 134 government agencies taking part in the recruitment campaign, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs alone plans to recruit 157 new staff.
For Dong Shu, a graduate of Peking University, a civil service job is at the top of her wish list.
"As a girl, I just want stability. The civil service sector can provide a comfortable and wealthy life. What's more, most of my classmates are going to take the exam," Dong said.
Things are more complicated for Wu Minggang, who will graduate from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in March next year.
"Being a civil servant means a bright future. If you work for a foreign enterprise, you will still be an engineer in 20 years, but if I get a job as a civil servant, (the career development path will be different,)" Wu said.
For Wu's classmate Wang Zhongxu, sitting the exam is just about increasing her chances of getting a job.
"I just want to grab any chance in front of me," Wang said.
Li Pei, a post-graduate of the University of International Relations who became a civil servant last year, feels satisfied with her job.
"We enjoy a dormitory at a low price, about 200 yuan ($ 29) per month. We enjoy three meals for free in the dinning hall. Every month I can give at least 1,000 yuan to my parents," Li said.
Compared with Li's classmates in foreign enterprises, Li's life was rather comfortable.
With a monthly salary of about 5,000 yuan, she also enjoys good insurance and pension coverage.
Hu Fengling, a professor at the University of International Relations, said at least 70 percent of the graduates in his school will take the national civil service exam, but only one in five will get a job.
Fresh graduates face gloomy job market
October 15th, 2008With a looming global financial crisis aggravating the difficulties posed by a fierce job market, many consider the future for the country's fresh college graduates to be bleak.
The number of job hunters from this group entering the market next year is expected to exceed 6 million nationwide, an increase of 7 percent from this year, official figures showed.
"This year, the number of new recruits in the job market has halved and most positions are for experienced applicants only," said Carol Cai, an employee of British market research company TNS.
"Employers always give preference to applicants with some experience so the unemployed possess more advantages than fresh graduates, whose inexperience often works against them in the job search," said Tang Xiaolin, director of the career development center of Fudan University.
It is no longer considered easy for graduates majoring in once-popular fields such as banking, finance, trade and management to land positions, education officials said.
"Companies are still making presentations on campus. However, this is more of self promotion than real recruitment because they have cut their job plans," said Lin Huihui, a graduate who majored in international commerce at Fudan University.
Similarly, many companies are reportedly cutting their payrolls amid the job crunch.
University sources have also attributed the shift by new graduates away from such fields to the financial crisis and credit crunch.
Xiao Jiang, a finance major from Zhejiang University, said he has applied for about 20 positions as a researcher or analyst for multinational companies, nonprofit organizations, private enterprises and associations - whatever options he could think of.
"I didn't think it would take this long," he said. "It's tough just to get an interview.
"I can no longer consider whether my specialty matches my future job. The most important thing is whether I can find a job," Xiao said.
"There is little doubt that the financial crisis has already hurt job growth. The unemployment rate is likely to rise further - and remain high for a considerable period of time after the financial crisis subsides and economic growth resumes," Tang from Fudan University said.
Adding to a shrinking job market for graduates is the competition from their peers returning from studies overseas.
Those studying abroad will most likely return home for jobs because of the tight job market, Tang said.
Faced with such uncertainty, many students have decided that further study for higher degrees would improve their chances of entering the workplace.
"It would only add to fiercer competition in the next few years, when more students graduate," education analyst Lin Yuxuan said. "Graduates should lower their expectations and add experience that will help them become more competitive."
Foreign Firms Given Labor Contract Deadline
September 25th, 2008More 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
September 24th, 2008Job 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".
HK job market remains stable
September 19th, 2008HONG 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.
China compels foreign companies to allow unions news
September 13th, 2008Foreign companies operating in China have been given a 30 September deadline to allow unions to be fomed in their offices and factories failing which, the companies could be publicly vilified or blacklisted by the union and also attract penalties from the government.
China is asking all foreign companies to permit state approved labour unions at a time when raw material costs have risen dramatically and labour costs escalated by 30 to 40 per cent, forcing foreign corporations to think twice about setting up shop in China.
Many large corporations had set up manufacturing units in China mainly because of cheap labour and also to avoid labour problems that disrupt operations in their own countries. The ongoing Boeing machinists and the strike threat at Arcelor Mittal steel plants in the US are striking examples.
This move to permit unionisation stems from China's recent economic boom and the government is keen to rectify some of the maladies like vast income disparities and labour exploitation that has been highlighted by leading western labour activists.
Many large American corporations such as Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Yum Brands, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut who own and run their establishments in China, have yielded to employees setting up unions, while those like Microsft and PricewaterhouseCoopers are resisting on the grounds that they do not operate manufacturing units.
In 2006 nearly Wal-Mart employees at 108 stores have opted to have a trade union although Wal-Mart's dislike for trade unions is well known in the US and other countries where it operates.
Companies that have set up manufacturing units in China will be the hardest hit due to soaring raw material and labour costs. Despite adhering to Chinese labour laws, they fear allowing unions would force them to have to pay substantial overtime wages, as many factories maintain a six-day work week.
Labour activists worldwide have targeted Chinese manufacturing enterprises, which employ child labour, with reports in the western media of children being forced to put in working hours of nearly 100 hours a week without any overtime and often in violation of safety regulations.
Some of the contractors for big renowned brands such as Wal-Mart, Adidas and Disney were fired for hiring and exploiting child labour.
Analysts say that allowing unions in Chinese companies would give absolute power to the the only union allowed by the government, the All China Federation of Trade Unions, in terms of bargaining and force foreign companies to consult with the unions on every issue, a thing foreign companies never had to do in the past.
The question of agitating for their legal rights and the ability to bargain collectively is still a question mark as unions are a relatively new concept in China.
According to the All China Federation of Trade Unions, by the end of September about 80 per cent of the top 500 global corporations operating in China would have unions.
China's efforts for labour balance
September 12th, 2008CHINA'S monetary policy will not shift substantially in response to the global downturn. But employers in China should increase wages by 10 per cent in order to attract workers as the labour surplus disappears.
These are among the rare insights opened, through China's leading business publication, Caijing magazine, into the economic advice the country's leaders are being given as they face multiple challenges.
Cai Fang, director of the Institute of Population and Labour Economics at the prestigious Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, has spoken to the magazine about his message to Premier Wen Jiabao and the State Council, China's cabinet, during a closed-door meeting with eight leading economists.
He said: "We talked about whether economic growth will slow, how to contain inflation and stimulate growth, and whether China should maintain its tight monetary policy."
China's economists, he said, "are split on the two major macro tasks: fighting inflation and stimulating growth. However, we generally agreed that monetary policy should remain as it is. We should neither loosen it nor tighten it further."
Cai said officials at the State Council were especially concerned about the extent to which the slowdown of gross domestic product growth -- from 11.9 per cent in 2007 to 10.4 per cent in the first half of 2008 -- will hurt employment. "Should we retain the growth momentum to ensure high employment rates?" This, he said, was his main focus. "The growth rate is flattening out, while unemployment is climbing."
In the last quarter, ending June 30, registered urban unemployment reached 4.1 per cent. Clearly it was rising, he said. Before this year, it was declining.
"A few years ago, China's registered unemployment rate didn't reflect the real situation because it excluded laid-off workers. But the number of laid-off workers has largely been reduced in recent years due to the Government's re-employment efforts. Now the registered rate is close to what it is in reality."
But in China, he said, "economic growth and employment are not closely related. One reason is that Chinese policy favours large size companies. The preference became even more obvious when the Government adjusted its macro-economic policies recently."
Companies receiving government backing, he said, "are usually enterprises with high profits, low emissions, low rates of pollution and less reliance on resources. In reality, they are big companies, especially state-controlled ones, equipped with better technologies."
His institute surveyed 17 industries and found that capital-intensive companies, most of which are large firms, contribute substantially to GDP growth but are not so impressive in terms of creating new jobs.
Last year, the control of credit was tightened in both quantity and quality. Better risk controls and higher earnings were required for lending, and that situation diverted loans toward larger companies and away from small ones because, he said, "lending to them became even riskier".
Most unemployment, he said, is structural rather than cyclical. Coupled with the low employment rate of college graduates, the rate even shows signs of rising.
Cai said private companies, most of them small and medium-sized, had played an important part in absorbing labour displaced by massive lay-offs from state-owned factories.
But "the current economic slowdown, however, has hit them hard. And statistics tend to miss unemployment in these sectors", with migrant workers not being registered at all.
Tight monetary policy was not good news for such businesses, he said. "Historically, it's hard for these companies to borrow from banks, and they turn to the market for financing." With the central bank issuing the commercial banks with firm instructions to tighten lending, the SMEs tend to borrow privately from "grey" sources, which "leads to skyrocketing interest rates".
Tax revenues rose rapidly in the first half of 2008, he said, so, in compensation for the adjustments required from vulnerable businesses, "it's widely agreed among scholars that we can cut tax rates a bit.
"There are needs for more government spending -- natural disasters hit China one after another, and we just hosted the Olympics. And it might want to set aside some money for a rainy day."
However, "nobody is speaking on behalf of SOEs and advocating low taxes".
China has no nationwide social security system, he says. Some provinces don't even have a province-wide social security net. "That leads to many migrant workers withdrawing from the social security system. Why? For instance, in the pension system, workers pay 8 per cent of their salary and companies match it."
In seasonal, labour-intensive industries, workers finish their terms and leave the job for good. But their social security benefits can't go with them. So they have to withdraw from the system, taking back their own contributions, while the company's contribution stays within the system.
"So there is no upside for workers to join the pension system, and for companies it creates a financial burden," he said.
"Officials from inland provinces complain that coastal provinces have seen a fast increase of social security funds because they not only siphoned labourers from inland but social security funds as well."
Cai said that migrant workers' insurance provisions should be portable and nationwide. When workers retired, they should be able to receive both their own contributions and those from their employers. "China's development has reached a stage where labour shortages are occurring, and the labor supply-demand equation is changing. That requires a rise in salary and other benefits."
He backed the new Labour Law that came into effect on January 1, and which has come under attack from some employers, saying wages should rise by some 10 per cent.
"I think we should stick with the new law," he said. "There are problems with enforcing it, which were not created by the law itself but by a lack of support measures.
"Companies feel overburdened, partly because of the inadequate social security system. This is not the fault of the Labour Law. If a company can't bear a modest rise, it is not competitive except as a sweatshop. We should let such companies die, if they have to."
In developing countries, he said, sometimes when laws are made to protect workers the result is higher unemployment. "The unlimited supply of labour in developing countries is to blame.
"India is one good example. Research shows that economic development levels in different parts of India are directly related to their labour policies, and those which have tight labour regulations often lag in economic development."
The reason that Cai backs the Labour Law is that labour in China is moving from a surplus to a relative balance. "There must be some kind of incentive to spur labour supply and attract workers," he said.
Expert: Women 'should work longer'
September 11th, 2008The retirement age of women should be extended as a solution to Shanghai's shrinking supply of labor and the rapidly aging population, a demographics expert has said.
Gui Shixun, vice-director of the Shanghai Research Center on Aging, said by 2020 men and women should be allowed to retire at age 60.
Currently, women working for government institutions and companies are required to retire at age 55 and men at 60. Women blue-collar workers must retire at 50 and men at 55.
In recent years, economic experts have increasingly warned that the nation's abundant supply of low -cost labor, seen as the backbone of China's phenomenal economic growth, will decrease.
In Shanghai, 20 percent of its population of about 18 million, are now aged over 60, prompting the local government to step up efforts to find a solution.
Gui said Shanghai's working population, or permanent residents aged between 15 and 59, shrank 52,400 to 9.76 million last year, reportedly the biggest decrease in all provinces and municipalities in China.
"The slow growth of the labor force in Shanghai will become more serious," Gui told the Oriental Morning Post newspaper.
Shanghai should grant more permanent resident permits and the one-child policy should be relaxed, he said.
The proposal to have both men and women retire at 60, was put forward a few years ago, but met with mixed reactions.
Bao Yunyun, an office worker, said she would like to retire at an earlier age "so she will have time to do something different".
But an increasing number of women who want to keep their jobs longer regard the current policy, introduced decades ago, as discrimination.
"The early retiring age means fewer social welfare benefits and it's unfair for women," Zhu Dan, a member of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress, said in a recent Xinhua report.
To receive the full benefits of government policies usually requires employees to have more than 30 years' service, she said.
Women today are able to work longer than before due to improved working conditions and better health, she said.
Advisors call for measures to raise migrants' salaries
September 4th, 2008Political advisors Wednesday called on the government to make greater efforts to raise migrant workers' salaries and ensure they have a better standard of living.
With more than 200 million such workers in cities across China, how to better protect their rights and interests has become a crucial issue, members of the country's top political advisory body said Wednesday in Beijing at a meeting on achieving more balanced development between urban and rural areas.
They also called for substantial measures to be taken to provide these workers with insurance for workplace injuries, better educational opportunities for their children and more affordable housing.
Li Zhuobin, a member of the Standing Committee of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said migrant workers still face employment discrimination and poor access to public services.
Citing the construction industry as an example, he said migrant workers' salaries could be two-thirds or half that of their urban counterparts.
In other cases, employers refuse to hire workers without urban permanent residence permits.
"Many employers do not pay them on time," said Li.
"In sectors that hire a large number of migrant workers, such as construction, catering and entertainment, the government should be strict on implementing the salary deposit rule," he said.
The rule, introduced in May 2004 by the former Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, requires construction companies to deposit a certain amount of money in a labor department bank account. The money is used to pay migrant workers who fail to receive their due salaries.
In addition, the training of rural workers fails to fully meet employers' requirements and the public employment service's efforts to help migrant workers find jobs are inadequate, he added.
Li suggested that preferential policies to promote employment should cover both urban and rural residents.
Shenzhen looks to fill 560,000 jobs
September 3rd, 2008Authorities in Shenzhen are looking to attract 560,000 workers from rural areas of Guangdong over the next five years in a bid to counter rising labor costs, a provincial official said on Tuesday.
"Shenzhen's ambitious plan is part of the province's double transfer strategy," Lin Yingwu, deputy director of the Guangdong labor and social security department.
"Other cities in the delta region will follow suit," he said
The aim of the strategy is to attract workers to the manufacturing centers of the Pearl River Delta, as well as relocating some production bases to areas with large workforces in a bid to reduce soaring labor costs, he said.
Four industrial parks, funded by the Shenzhen and local governments, have already been built in rural areas of Guangdong, the Nanfang Daily reported recently.
Shenzhen has signed labor cooperation agreements with 14 rural cities, and on Monday, 128 employers from the city offered about 40,000 vacancies, with monthly salaries ranging from 1,300 yuan ($190) to 2,500 yuan, Lin said.
Labor departments in Shenzhen and the 14 cities will work together to improve communications and facilitate the movement of workers, Guan Lingen, director of the Shenzhen labor and social security bureau, said.
Also, online interviews will be held wherever possible to eliminate travel costs, he said.
Li Qingqing, an associate professor of economics at South China Normal University, said the double transfer strategy will be beneficial to all the cities involved.
"Under the plan, delta boomtowns will no longer need to worry about the shortfall of laborers, while the growing rural population will be able to find better ways to make a living," she said.
Job training for 100,000 students
September 2nd, 2008Twelve vocational high schools will be built in the Pearl River Delta over the next few years to train up to 100,000 students from less-developed areas of Guangdong to meet the soaring demand for skilled workers in the region, a local education official said yesterday.
A Nanfang Daily report quoted Luo Weiqi, director of the provincial education department, as saying: "The development of vocational education will be a priority over the next few years.
"A dozen vocational schools, each with 5,000 to 10,000 students, will be set up, and secondary schools in better developed areas of the Pearl River Delta region will be encouraged to work with their counterparts in less developed regions."
The delta region has long faced a shortage of labor, and skilled workers are now in particularly high demand as the region seeks to switch focus from labor-intensive manufacturing to value-added industries.
In contrast, there is a surplus of unskilled workers in the northern, eastern and western regions of Guangdong.
Sending students from poorer regions to train in the Pearl River Delta is, therefore, a win-win situation, Luo said.
Lai Hongying, a publicity official with the education department, said that by 2011, the province aims to train 2 million students a year, up from 1.3 million last year.
Under the same timeframe, it also aims to recruit 600,000 new students a year, up from 540,000 last year, he said.
Polytechnics and universities will also seek to attract more students in the areas of science and technology to provide a richer human resource for the development of a modern industrial system, he said.
In a bid to achieve our goals, we will improve working and living conditions for teachers in rural areas, and go "all out" to attract top academics from home and abroad, Lai said.
More workers get legal aid
September 1st, 2008More workers engaged in disputes with their employers will get access to legal aid as a result of new guidelines issued by China's top trade union body.
According to the document, which was released on Monday by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), unions at county level or above will set up legal aid agencies to help workers resolve labor disputes with their employers.
The agencies will also help them safeguard personal and property rights related with the disputes.
Workers can apply for legal aid from the agencies even if they are not union members, Xie Liangmin, deputy director of the federation's law department, said.
However, they should be in "financial difficulties" in order to qualify for free legal aid.
At present, each province has different criteria to judge workers' financial situation. In some areas, people covered by minimum social security can qualify for legal aid.
The document also stipulates that workers who do not meet the criteria can still apply for legal aid if their rights are "seriously" violated.
Rural migrant workers who have problems in getting payments or compensation for occupational injuries from their bosses are qualified to receive free legal aid regardless of their financial situation.
"Many workers don't have adequate knowledge of laws and are often discouraged by lengthy legal procedures," Xie said.
"Legal aid agencies will do their best to help the workers use legal weapons to safeguard their rights and interests."
According to statistics provided by the ACFTU, trade unions in China had established 6,178 legal aid agencies by the end of last year, in which they accepted 46,000 cases involving lawsuits and helped to solve 29,000 of them.
"Trade unions started to offer legal aid in 1992," he said.
"The new document will guarantee the status and funding of legal aid agencies."
Chu Junhua, a lawyer with the Beijing Workers' Aid Center, said the number of workers applying for legal aid has increased sharply in recent years.
Migrant workers facing job losses in Shenzhen
August 27th, 2008Millions of unskilled migrant workers could be forced to leave this southern boomtown in the face of its continuing industrial restructuring, a local statistician has said.
The lacking skills and general know-how of migrant farmers-turned-workers could make companies unwilling to employ them, Kong Ailing, chief of Shenzhen statistics team of National Bureau of Statistics, said.
Barely half of the more than 8 million of Shenzhen's total 12 million population who come from other areas only finished junior middle school education, and the working background of 56 percent was in the electronics, machinery, furniture, garment, toy, catering and services sectors, according to a recent survey by the statistics team.
Only one percent of this sizable social group in the booming city, the forerunner of the country's reform and opening-up, were actually skilled workers, the survey concluded.
"Workers' poor education could be seen as hampering companies' innovation potential in a city where knowledge and technologies become more and more important," Kong said.
The municipal government allocate resources toward training its migrant workers and also cooperate with some corporations and the communities to satisfy the demands of high-end industries, she said.
"Migrant workers, if better trained and educated, will promote the city's economic growth," senior researcher with Shenzhen Academy of Social Sciences, Yang Lixun, said.
Since setting up its first free training school for migrant workers earlier this year, the local government has set itself the target of training 1 million unskilled workers over the next five years.
China loans more to small businesses to boost employment
August 25th, 2008SHANGHAI (AFP) — China's central bank has more than doubled the amount entrepreneurs and small businesses can borrow as part of efforts to boost employment, officials said.
The maximum amount that can be loaned to individuals for business purposes was raised to 50,000 yuan (7,300 dollars) from 20,000 yuan, the People's Bank of China said in a statement posted on its website late Monday.
The limit on loans to labour-intensive small businesses was doubled to two million yuan from one million yuan, according to the notice distributed to local authorities and banks earlier this month.
"(We) need to enhance the policy support for labour-intensive small enterprises, prompt them to hire more jobless people," the central bank said.
Some small businesses in China have been forced to shut down after being hit by slowing export growth and the government's tighter credit conditions aimed at fighting inflation.
The large number of small businesses going bankrupt -- many of them focused on labour-intensive products for export like textile and toys -- has raised unemployment and concerns about possible social instability.
Beijing has long said the official unemployment rate remains below five percent.
HK jobless rate declines to lowest
August 19th, 2008HONG Kong's employment continued to improve from May to July with the jobless rate dipping to 3.2 percent, the lowest level in a decade, according to latest statistics of the Census and Statistics Department released yesterday.
Declines in the jobless rate were recorded in the construction, transport and import-export trades from May to July compared with April to June, according to the department.
Total employment rose by 1,400 to 3,53 million while the labor force surged by 4,500 to nearly 3,66 million.
From May to July the number of jobless people rose by 3,100 to 124,600 while the number of underemployed grew by 2,100 to 69,900.
The department's data also showed the underemployment rate remained stable at 1.9 percent from April to July.
Declines in the underemployment rate were mainly recorded in the decoration and maintenance, welfare and community services and sanitary services sectors, offsetting rises in the foundation and superstructure construction, and amusement and recreational services sectors.
The total labor force grew mainly due to fresh graduates and school leavers entering the job market, the department said.
With a relatively satisfactory absorption of these newcomers and increased job opportunities in the construction sector, the number of unemployed people only recorded a mild rise.
While welcoming the latest fall in the jobless rate, Secretary for Labor and Welfare Matthew Cheung said the Hong Kong government would do its best to promote employment on all fronts and help those adjusting to the increasingly knowledge-based economy through training, retraining and skill upgrading.
Beijing bar boss recruits Sichuan students
August 12th, 2008A businessman in Beijing has given fresh hope to a group of young women from Sichuan following the tragedy of the May 12 earthquake.
Singaporean Danny Chang, who has lived in China since 1997, opened a new bar "1/5" in east Beijing's embassy area early last month.
"I was wondering what a businessman like me could do to help, apart from just donating money," the 38-year-old said at his bar Monday.
Then a friend from Chengdu came up with the solution, he said: hire people from Sichuan.
"I thought it was really a good idea, so I flew to Chengdu immediately," he said.
His friend took him to a job fair at Sichuan College of Education, where lots of students were looking for jobs.
After chatting with dozens of candidates, Chang chose 12 young women - mostly third-year students majoring in tourist management - and offered them one-year internships.
But the recruitment process was not all plain sailing for the generous bar owner.
With his left arm tattooed with a totem pole and his right draped with a dozen silver bracelets, many students mistook the 1.9-m-tall Chang for a gangster.
Henna, a 22-year-old from Deyang, Sichuan, who managed to land one of the jobs, said Monday: "At first, we all thought he was a mafia boss. Some of my friends even told me not to go, because they thought it might be a trap," she said.
But Chang said he wanted to be honest and open with the candidates, which was why he did not cover up his arms.
As long as the applicants met the basic criteria, the jobs were offered on a first come, first served basis, he said.
"I was there to help people, not to be picky. If you have passion, you're qualified," he said.
The 1/5 interns work eight hours a day, six days a week. They can earn up to 1,000 yuan a month and also get free accommodation and meals.
But the internships are not about money or benefits, Chang said. They offer the girls the chance to learn about the industry and get some really useful work experience.
"They'll learn about cash flow, hosting, bar tending and service, which are all really useful skills," Chang said.
To help them acclimatize, Chang said he has also taken his newest workers out on shopping and sightseeing trips, and even to a club one Sunday night, his only day off.
He said he was impressed at how quickly some of them had picked up English, something he attributed to the nights they spent chatting to the bar's foreign customers.
"They spoke little English when they arrived, but they are getting much better.
"In six months' time, they'll be confident enough to chat with people from anywhere in the world," he said.
Business as usual in Chengdu
August 5th, 2008After the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province, wives would ask their husbands who had to go to Chengdu on business to take biscuits, instant noodles and water because they believed the city must have been battered by the quake and did not have enough food or clean water.
As a matter of fact, about one month after the quake, cinemas, museums, libraries, concert halls, restaurants and bars in Chengdu had reopened and were back to normal.
The average occupancy rate of Chengdu's star-rated hotels has risen to 60 percent and some have even reached 80 percent, higher than before the quake, said Deng Gongli, chief of the city's tourism administration.
The city's real estate, tourism, investment and retail sale sectors have also picked up the pieces.
In June, sales at famous retailers in the city such as Wangfujing Department Store, Ito-Yokado, Suning Appliance and GOME Electrical Appliances Holdings picked up, reaching between 80 and 90 percent of their pre-quake levels.
Twenty-three foreign-funded enterprises have registered in Chengdu after the earthquake, with an investment of nearly US$134 million.
Zhou Mi, deputy chief of the Chengdu committee for the promotion of investment, said: "Chengdu remains the commercial center of southwestern China."
Ge Honglin, mayor of Chengdu, describes Chengdu as a vital economic hub, an inland city with great potential for economic growth as China promotes the development of its western areas.
Land of abundance
Chengdu is traditionally known as the "land of abundance" thanks to the construction of Dujiangyan, the world's oldest irrigation project still in operation.
Two millennia ago, the Chengdu plain suffered from incessant flooding of Minjiang, a tributary of the Yangtze River, during the summer, while it was stricken with drought in the winter.
Li Bing, governor of Sichuan at the time, started harnessing the river by launching the Dujiangyan Irrigation Project around 256 BC.
When the project was completed, it fed a grid of canals that irrigated 160,000 hectares of arable land on the Chengdu plain. That area has since increased to 670,000 hectares.
The plain has stayed more or less free of floods and drought for more than 2,000 years, and has earned Sichuan the reputation of being a "land of abundance". The Chengdu plain has remained one of China's most important agricultural regions for centuries.
In the absence of a dam, experts have hailed the project as one of the world's most impressive hydraulic engineering projects.
Together with Mount Qingcheng, the project was listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 2000 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Mount Qingcheng, 16 km from Dujiangyan, which is known as "the most tranquil place under heaven," is the birthplace of Taoism, China's only indigenous religion.
Chengdu has been a land of abundance throughout history because of its developed agriculture and lack of conflict. Located in the Sichuan Basin and surrounded by rolling mountains, invading troops found Sichuan inaccessible in ancient times.
The city is famous for pandas, romantic poets, spicy hotpot and, more recently, bars and a relaxed atmosphere.
"It is a mix of Frankfurt, Paris and Chicago," Mayor Ge said.
Ge, a former vice-president of Shanghai-based Baosteel Group, one of China's largest State-owned enterprises, says his last job trained him to think like an entrepreneur. In fact, the Shanghai native has on many occasions acted as Chengdu's main PR man.
He has jumped on opportunities to promote the city to foreign investors, attending the American Chamber of Commerce in China's annual dinner last year, the only mayor to be present. At the 30th Anniversary of the Canada-China Business Council, he gave a lecture and held several meetings with Canadian businesspeople.
Ready for change
Ge is confident that as the world gets increasingly flat, economically speaking, inland Chinese cities such as Chengdu will play an increasingly important role in China's economic development. For the past several decades, coastal cities have flourished thanks to convenient transportation. Now, as modern technology and industry play a more important role, inland cities are in a good position to develop.
Ge is trying to prepare Chengdu for this change.
The city's greatest advantage, he says, is human resources. While factories in many coastal cities suffer a shortage of skilled workers, Ge says Chengdu has made vocational education one of the top priorities of the city's policymaking.
"I am really concerned about training 'grey collar' and 'blue collar' workers," he says.
In addition to stipends from the central government, the local government offers extra subsidies to workers and their children living in the Chengdu suburbs so they can receive technical training. The subsidy will cover all school costs, and in some cases, even family living expenses.
The local government encourages high school students to attend vocational schools if they fail to enter college. In December, the city spent 350 million yuan (US$51 million) to build a vocational school. The school, which will begin recruiting students in September, plans to send over 10,000 technicians per year to Chengdu and beyond.
Chengdu aims to become a base for the information technology, automotive and food processing industries. A vast number of skilled workers will be needed to fill the gap. According to its initial plan, the school will offer training courses and cooperate with enterprises to supply talent to enterprises.
A clean city
Apart from the talent pool, Chengdu is trying to build itself into a place that is suitable to live in.
Ge is proud that nearly all foreign embassies have situated their offices in western China in Chengdu. "They chose it because they feel comfortable living here," he explains, adding that Chengdu aims to be one of the cleanest cities in China.
According to Ge, almost all the buses and taxies in the city burn gas instead of oil to reduce pollution. By 2009, the city expects to safely burn all the rubbish, instead of using landfills. It has also moved major factories out of the city, and is generating electricity with water, instead of burning coal.
In 2007, the city government spent more than 5 billion yuan to build over 30 sewage water processing facilities. Efforts to improve air quality have also paid off: 311 days last year had good air quality. The egret, a rare bird that had long been unseen in the city due to heavy pollution, has recently returned, according to a CCTV report.
"We want to be the city with the best environment in China, and I think we are well on the way to achieving this," Ge says.
The city's GDP reached 332 billion yuan in 2007, up 15.8 percent year-on-year, while the per capita income of urban residents surpassed $4,000. Ge aims to increase the disposable income of urban residents by 8 percent, and rural residents by 10 percent annually.
Ge says strong foundations have already been laid, and that Chengdu's future looks bright.
"When you have the human resources and a suitable place for people to live, enterprises will come and see whether there is a market here for them," Ge says.
China end-June urban registered unemployment 4.0 pct
August 1st, 2008BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China's urban registered unemployment rate was 4.0 pct at the end of June, unchanged from the end of March, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said.
In a statement published on its website, the ministry said that the number of registered unemployed at the end of June stood at 8.35 mln, up from 8.25 mln at end-March.
The ministry said that 6.4 mln new jobs were created in cities in the first half of 2008, accounting for 64 pct of the full year target, while 2.82 mln laid-off workers found new jobs in the same period, accounting for 56 pct of the year target.
China set a 2008 urban unemployment target of 4.5 pct, with urban job creation projected at 10 mln.
At the end of June, there were about 210.29 mln and 249.07 mln people covered by pension and medical care respectively, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, the unemployment, work injury and paternity insurance fund had 120.1 mln, 130.25 mln and 84.52 mln people respectively covered at the end of June, it added.
Taiwan Strait air links to have big implications for HR: agency
June 25th, 2008The opening of direct air links across the Taiwan Strait may reshape human resource maps in Taiwan and China, an online employment service provider predicted Sunday. If direct cross-strait air links are launched, beginning with weekend charter flights, the number of Taiwanese working in China on a divided-time basis or Taiwanese engineers working in China on weekends and holidays would grow dramatically, a 104 JOB BANK official predicted.
* More people in Taiwan are now thinking about working in China because of unfavorable trends in Taiwan's job market and the soon-to-be-opened direct weekend charters, said Huang Chih-yao, a 104 Job Bank executive in charge of "headhunting for China."
* According to a survey conducted by 104 Job Bank in May, the number of Taiwanese workers seeking job opportunities in China averaged 20,000 per day by the end of May, the highest number since early 2006.
Hong Kong's Unemployment Rate Holds at Decade Low
June 18th, 2008Hong Kong's jobless rate stayed at the lowest level in a decade, helping domestic consumption to sustain economic growth as the export outlook dims.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the three months ended May 31 was unchanged at 3.3 percent, the government said today on its Web site. That matched the median estimate of 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
``The strong labor market will continue to support the economy,'' said Michael Dai, senior economist at Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd. ``There have been big salary increases across the board and that's encouraging consumption.''
Hong Kong's economy grew 7.1 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the fastest pace in two years. The expansion for the year may slow to between 4 percent and 5 percent as export demand weakens, the government said last month.
World economic growth will probably slow to 2.7 percent in 2008 from 3.7 percent last year on rising food and energy prices and the subprime credit crisis, the World Bank said last week.
Hong Kong's household spending rose 7.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier.
The labor market remained buoyant, Matthew Cheung, the Secretary for Labor and Welfare, said in today's statement.
Increased competition for labor has pushed salaries higher and added to inflation in the city. Wages climbed 2.7 percent in December. Figures for March are due this month.
Price Increases
Producer prices jumped 5.8 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the most on record. Consumer prices rose 5.4 percent in April, more than double the 2 percent pace for all of 2007.
For the year starting in April, salaries for civil servants were raised by 6.3 percent for the upper pay group and by 5.29 percent for middle and lower pay groups.
Stock market declines and a faltering global economy may erode business and consumer confidence. The key Hang Seng Index has fallen 17 percent this year.
A survey this quarter of 807 employers in the city showed a decline in the proportion who said they expected to add workers in the following quarter. The drop was from 33 percent to 30 percent, U.S.-based recruitment company Manpower Inc. said.
Hard to find staff
May 29th, 2008Fifteen percent of employers across Chinese mainland are finding it difficult to fill jobs, according to an annual talent shortage survey released yesterday by Manpower, a world leader in the employment service industry.
The top three vacant jobs are technicians, sales representatives and management or executive positions, and the ratio is four percentage points lower than that of 2007 survey result, said the January 2008 survey, based on 3,900 employers in Chinese mainland.
Compared with 2007, technicians top the list fill for the second year in a row. Sales representatives moved from third to second, and management/executives, ranked fourth in 2007, moved up to the third-most difficult job to fill. In addition, labor positions fell from second to ninth.
"Judging from survey results of the last three years, talent shortage remains a problem in Chinese mainland," said Lucille Wu, managing director of Manpower Greater China.
"It require joint efforts from companies, individuals and the government to solve the problem," said Lucille, adding companies could invest more in employee training, strengthen cooperation with educational institutions, encourage employees to extend their working scope and help upgrade employee skills.
"As for individuals, they can develop their own skills, attend more training and review their own career interests. The government should be committed to a long-term talent training plan, encouraging the development of vocational education and cooperating with companies to forecast future talent needs," said Lucille.
The top 10 positions that employers in Chinese mainland are having difficulty filling in 2008:
2008 Hot Jobs
1. Technicians
2. Sales Representatives
3. Management/Executives
4. Sales Managers
5. Machinists/Machine Operators
6. Engineers
7. Production Operators
8. Skilled Manual Trades (primarily electricians, carpenters/joiners or welders)
9. Laborers
10. Restaurant & Hotel Staff
2007 Hot Jobs
1. Technicians
2. Laborers
3. Sales Representatives
4. Management/Executives
5. Engineers
6. Customer Service Representatives/Customer Support
7. Researchers (R&D)
8. Sales Managers
9. Supervisors
10. Designers
China creates 12 mln jobs for urbanities in 2007
May 26th, 2008BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China created 12.04 million jobs for urban dwellers in 2007 and helped 5.15 million laid-off workers find new jobs, said the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Tuesday.
The urban unemployed population was 8.3 million at the end of last year, with the urban registered unemployment rate standing at4.0 percent, down 0.1 percentage point year-on-year, according to a report jointly released by the ministry and the National Bureau of Statistics.
The report revealed that the average annual salary of urban employees reached 24,932 yuan (3,573 U.S. dollars), up 18.7 percent year-on-year in nominal terms and up 13.6 percent adjusted for inflation.
The Ministry of Finance said earlier this month that it would allocate 26 billion yuan this year to help more people find jobs.
In the first quarter, 3.03 million urbanites found a job, or 30percent of the annual goal of 10 million. Meanwhile, 1.28 million laid-off workers were re-employed, or 26 percent of the annual target of 5 million.
Unemployment rate plummets
May 21st, 2008HONG Kong's unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 3.3 percent, matching the lowest in a decade, helping to boost consumer spending and sustain growth in the city as global demand fades.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate was for the three months ended April, the government said yesterday on its Website. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected the rate to stay at 3.4 percent.
An improved labor market, lower interest rates and tax relief may support domestic household consumption and shield the city from weaker overseas demand.
"Export, visitor and capital flows from Chinese mainland have created most of the jobs for Hong Kong in the past few years," said Kevin Lai, senior economist at Daiwa Institute of Research in Hong Kong. "Domestic demand will remain robust amid a solid labor sector, negative real interest rates and fiscal stimulus."
Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's largest bank, plans to triple its office capacity in Hong Kong by 2010. The expansion will allow employing as many as 4,000 workers, up from 1,500 currently, the company said on May 6.
Last month's jobless rate matched February's as the lowest in 10 years. The government calculates Hong Kong's unemployment on a rolling three-month basis to smooth out seasonal factors.
Hong Kong's economy grew 7.1 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the fastest pace in two years. Household spending jumped 7.9 percent.
Rising incomes are spurring consumption. The average wage rose 2.7 percent in December from a year earlier.
The increase in wages may also escalate inflation as companies pass on higher labor costs to buyers.
RPT-PREVIEW-HK Feb-April jobless rate seen stable at 3.4 pct
May 20th, 2008HONG KONG, May 16 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's jobless rate probably stayed at 3.4 percent in February-April as the pace of hiring slowed amid uncertainties over the economy, a Reuters survey shows.
"The economy was still doing well in the first quarter but employers became more cautious about hiring due to the weakening external environment," said Peng Chen, an economist at JPMorgan.
The unemployment rate has fallen much further than expected, hitting 3.3 percent, a 10-year low, in December-February, as a strong economy has created jobs and a tight labour market. However, the rate crept back up to 3.4 percent in January-March as hiring slowed sharply.
The trade sector is one of the territory's biggest employers and a possible recession in the United States -- Hong Kong's biggest export market after mainland China -- is a particular concern.
As the territory's exports are expected to slow this year, economists see economic growth falling to 4.6 percent, according to a Reuters poll, from 6.3 percent last year and average annual growth of 7.2 percent over the past four years.
In April, growth in business in the private sector virtually stalled and new orders fell for the first time in more than three years, according to the Hong Kong Purchasing Managers' Index, prompting companies to add few staff. Wages however continued to increase, although at the slowest pace since September.
Demand for professionals across sectors is still buoyant amid a shortage of suitable qualified people and the retail and tourism sectors continue to hire amid strong consumption, which has been underpinned by wage growth.
The unemployment rate has fallen from a record 8.5 percent four years ago. Economists say the economy is now close to full employment and while the jobless rate should stay below 4 percent this year it is likely to keep fluctuating.
Forecasts for the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February-April (percent): Daiwa Research Institute 3.3 ING Financial Mkts 3.3 Bank of East Asia 3.4 DBS Bank 3.4 JPMorgan 3.4 Standard Chartered Bank 3.4 Hang Seng Bank 3.5 UBS 3.5
Health official: China's nurse workforce surges, but shortage persists
May 13th, 2008China had 1.54 million nurses as ofthe end of last year, up 240,000 from 2005, a senior health official said in Beijing on Monday.
Ma Xiaowei, vice health minister, told a tele-conference that last year alone, 120,000 more nurses joined the workforce, the biggest increase ever.
He said nurses accounted for 34 percent of China's medical workers.
The quality of the nursing workforce was also being lifted, with 57.5 percent of those at 696 major hospitals nationwide having received junior college education or above, Ma quoted a survey as saying.
However, the survey also found nurses faced many problems including a heavy workload and lack of protection of their rights, he said.
In the surveyed hospitals, one nurse often cared for 10-14 patients and some cared for more than 30 patients, he said.
"The shortage of nurses has increased their workload and led tobelow-standard service for patients," he said.
Ma said a new regulation on nurses that took effect on Monday would better protect their rights as to salary and benefits.
Google to add China staff, promote products
May 7th, 2008BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) - Google Inc, the world's Internet services leader, plans to boost hiring in China by one-third this year and increase promotional spending to win market share, a senior company executive said on Saturday.
Lee Kai-Fu, Google's president for Greater China, said in an interview that the Silicon Valley company intends to add 200 staffers in 2008 to its existing 600 employees and to keep up that level of hiring for the next three to five years.
The new jobs will be in technology and sales and marketing and half of the jobs will go to new university graduates, Lee told Reuters on the sidelines of the Committee of 100 conference, an annual gathering of Chinese-American leaders. The three-day event in Beverly Hills ends on Saturday.
Google, one of the most popular places to work among recent graduates, has sharply curtailed hiring. The company has hired around 800 new employees worldwide in each of the past two quarters, excluding acquisitions, half the rate of a year ago.
Google, China's No. 2 provider of Web search services behind domestic market leader Baidu.com Inc, also will increase promotional spending for its products such as Google Maps and its e-mail service called Gmail, Lee said.
"You will not see a Google advertisement on TV but you will see more and more promotions and advertisements about Google's products at Chinese Web sites," Lee said, describing how Google plans to rely on search ads instead of conventional marketing.
He said Google also would look to strike more profit-sharing partnerships with Web site operators along the lines of one it already has with Chinese Internet media site Sina.com for news, advertising and search services.
The goal is for Google to boost its own online advertising revenue in China, where millions of young Chinese people are rapidly adopting Internet shopping, Lee said.
"Advertising is our core revenue in China, just like anywhere else for Google," he said. "I believe online advertising in China has very big market potential."
Google Web search advertising services brought in virtually all of the company's $16.6 billion in revenue last year. It had 19,156 employees at the end of March, including around 1,500 that joined through its DoubleClick acquisition in March.
Lee's remarks follow comments by Google Chairman and Chief Executive Eric Schmidt earlier this week of improved business in China. "We are seeing market share growth and good revenue growth as we have learned to operate in that environment," he told investors on a conference call to discuss financial results.
Staff sent to China still increasing
April 11th, 2008TAIPEI, Taiwan -- More and more Taiwanese companies are sending employees -- both expatriates and locals -- to China, said Seraphim Mar, a senior partner with Baker & McKenzie, at an AmCham Greater China Business Committee luncheon held recently at the Sherwood Hotel in Taipei. AmCham is the largest, oldest and most influential grouping of international and local businesses on the island.
She questioned, however, whether companies have taken sufficient steps to comply with relevant laws. "Have you considered the consequences of employment relationships in both the short and long term?" she asked the gathering of international business executives. "Is it better, from a legal perspective, to send employees as expatriates from the Taiwan-based operation or to hire them directly in China?" she continued. In particular, she stressed that companies must consider the impacts of the People's Republic of China's new Labor Contract Law, which went into effect on January 1, 2008.
Mar outlined one possible scenario: "Let's say a company in Taiwan is contemplating sending 20 Taiwanese employees as expatriates to work for its affiliate in Shanghai. The company continues paying salaries from Taiwan, while the PRC affiliate pays only minimum salaries. The company in Taiwan also continues to make employee labor insurance, national health insurance and pension contributions. The question then becomes: Who is the actual employer, and how do the various laws in China and Taiwan view the employment relationship?"
Tax issues also come into play. "The worker has de-facto employment in China," said Mar. "That entails social insurance obligations as well as tax liability and transfer pricing issues. The same, however, remains true in Taiwan." One solution, she said, would be for the Taiwan-based entity to reimburse its employees the cost of insurance in Taiwan, rather than contributing it directly.
Another problem is one of termination. "If the company in Taiwan does not have a position available, whose laws govern?" she asked. "If a pension is payable, is it based on Taiwanese or Chinese salary levels?"
Mar also pointed out that, according to the PRC Employment Contract Law, a fixed-term contract becomes open-ended (long-term) contract if the employee has worked for 10 consecutive years or the fixed-term contract is signed twice, consecutively. Likewise, the same occurs when an employer fails to conclude a written employment contract with the worker within a year. "Employers that fail to conclude an open-ended contract," said Mar, "will have to pay workers double their monthly wages starting from the date that such a contract should have been put into effect."
China marches into outsourcing
April 10th, 2008CHANGSHA, CHINA -- In the foothills of Yuelu Mountain here, a young Mao Tse-tung found inspiration in nature for his political aspirations. Today, Communist Party officials have a different vision for this area: a valley of global outsourcing firms.
One of them, Beijing-based Chinasoft International Ltd., is recruiting hundreds of workers to process medical bills and health insurance claims. Its target customers: U.S. doctors.
Chinasoft is launching the venture with a Tennessee firm, Premier BPO Inc., which has similar operations in India and Pakistan. Chen Yuhong, Chinasoft's managing director, thinks it's only a matter of time before China makes big gains against India -- which now leads the world in information technology outsourcing.
"They're seriously concerned about our challenge," said Chen, 44, who has a doctorate in engineering from Beijing Institute of Technology and speaks fluent English.
Most analysts reckon it'll be perhaps a decade before China catches up. India's IT outsourcing revenue, estimated at $18 billion in 2007, is about six times the size of China's. The gap figures to be even bigger for business-process outsourcing, such as medical billing and back-office work. With its history as a British colony, India has workers with strong English skills and familiarity with Western culture. That gives companies there a big edge when bidding for jobs that require reading reports and talking to Americans.
But China's sales of IT outsourcing work are growing at roughly twice the rate of India's. Consulting firm Analysys International says they jumped 45% in the fourth quarter of 2007, to about $600 million. Although much of that was for clients in Japan and other Asian countries, China is making a push to extend its reach.
In 2006, the central government launched the "Thousand, Hundred, Ten" project, aimed at cultivating 1,000 Chinese outsourcing companies that would cater to 100 international clients. Beijing wants to situate them in at least 10 cities. Some are familiar locales -- Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen. But success or failure may come down to smaller cities largely unknown abroad.
Wages, plus land and housing prices, have soared in China's top-tier cities, prompting many foreign manufacturers to relocate. Officials hope that places such as Wuhan, Jinan and Changsha will be lower-cost alternatives for the service industry as well.
Junior software engineers in those cities can be hired for $170 to $250 a month -- a third of the going rates in Beijing or Shanghai, said Tian Yuqi, human resources manager at VanceInfo Technologies Inc., a Beijing-based IT outsourcing firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Those wages also are a lot lower than in India's outsourcing hubs such as Bangalore and New Delhi, where salaries are spiraling up.
"China enjoys the cost advantage, but India enjoys the market advantage," Tian said.
China's government wants both -- and is helping with incentives. Firms setting up in designated outsourcing zones can enjoy a two-year waiver of taxes. They can get a subsidy of about $700 per employee for training and hiring. Local governments are chipping in with sweet deals for rent and land, as well as cash for certain sectors. Hunan province, for example, has set aside about $56 million to bolster the local animation industry, which is particularly strong in Changsha.
"They're going after it with determination," said Gaurav Gupta, country head in India for Everest Group, a consulting and research firm based in Britain. Gupta and others at Everest track 125 outsourcing cities in the world, including 10 in China and more than 30 in India. Yet for all their potential, he says, Chinese outsourcing companies are generally serving domestic businesses -- not offshore customers, as India's firms tend to do.
Chinasoft's Chen, though, sees a way to leverage China's large domestic market into offshore contracts. As more Chinese businesses and public agencies contract out their IT, back-office and call-center operations, the firms that provide those services could offer connections to Western firms to help them break into the Chinese market.
"We tell them, 'You give us business in [your country], and we'll give you the market here,' " Chen said. Chinasoft also is considering buying a stake in companies such as Premier BPO to help drive more American customers to its fledgling outsourcing operations in China. Though Chinasoft has branch offices around the world, including San Francisco and Seattle, its IT outsourcing revenue was only about $9 million in last year's third quarter, the latest period for which results are available.
Mark Briggs, chairman of privately held Premier BPO, declined to comment on the specifics of the deal with Chinasoft. He agreed that familiarity with English was a major plus for India; something as simple as commas and semicolons can be stumbling blocks for Chinese workers coding data into computers, he said. But training can overcome such language and cultural gaps, and Briggs predicted that the same assets that propelled China's manufacturing industry -- great infrastructure and labor power -- would help it become tops in outsourcing.
"I personally believe China will overtake the rest of the world in BPO," or business-process outsourcing, he said.
Changsha may be well suited to play a key role. Many Chinese regard Hunan as a center of culture and creative talent. The wildly popular television show "Super Girl," akin to "American Idol," was produced here. Changsha accounts for much of the nation's cartoon design and TV programming.
Changsha natives claim an outsize share of placements at top IT companies, managers say. The city boasts three universities rated highly for industrial design and software engineering. China's first supercomputer was developed at Changsha's National University of Defense Technology.
"They have a lot of talented people," said Xuedong Huang, a general manager at Microsoft Corp.'s communications innovation center in Redmond, Wash. Like most major technology companies, Microsoft's investment and work in China have been focused in Beijing and Shanghai. For four years, it has run a small software outsourcing project in Changsha.
"I've been very impressed with the quality, even by Microsoft standards," said Huang, himself a product of Hunan University in Changsha. What's unclear, he says, is whether an inland city as "small" as Changsha, population 6 million, can become a major player in outsourcing.
Changsha has yet to cultivate a star company in IT or business-process outsourcing. One reason is that Changsha's homegrown talent is lured by glitzier, cosmopolitan cities on the coast. Seventy percent of engineering graduates leave Hunan, said Lin Yaping, vice dean of Hunan University's software school. To keep them, "what we need is a dragon head," he said, referring to an internationally famous firm.
About 300 firms have set up in Changsha's software and outsourcing zone at the foot of Yuelu Mountain. Some have partnerships with big names including IBM Corp. and Google Inc., but most are tiny operations. One of the most promising locally bred IT companies, Powerise International Software Co., faltered and was bought by Chinasoft in 2006.
Today, Chinasoft's 160 staff members in Changsha do IT outsourcing for mainly Japanese companies, but most of it is coding work and software testing, not the high-end engineering and designing that Changsha craves.
VanceInfo Technologies' experience in Changsha isn't encouraging.
The Beijing firm opened a branch here in 2003. Tian said it took him nine months to recruit 60 engineers. They had little trouble doing the work, including developing, testing and localizing software and handling electronic transfers of loans for major banks.
But Tian said his staff in Changsha, lacking strong English skills, struggled in conference calls with customers. Nor were VanceInfo's clients entirely comfortable dealing in a small city unfamiliar to them, he said, and the firm shut the office in 2005.
"Compared to the Japanese, major clients in Europe and North America emphasized much more the city's characteristics," Tian said. "They preferred Shanghai. Our clients weren't supporting our establishing centers in cities like Changsha."
Upgrading China's labor force
April 9th, 2008GUANGZHOU, China, This year is likely to be a difficult one for China's economy, as Premier Wen Jiabao warned at a recent press conference. The export business has been shrinking due to the appreciation of the Chinese yuan, as well as the "austerity" policy. This is going to make it harder for people to find jobs.
Chinese academics are now avidly discussing the need for transformation of the nation's industries. This cannot be achieved overnight, however. The most urgent task is to find employment for China's labor force.
One solution would be to support and encourage the export of labor. If taken as a national strategy, China could focus on "branding" its labor force as an exportable commodity. Some Chinese may feel this would dishonor China, which claims a noble history and by tradition considers itself the nation of heaven. But this would be the most effective approach to serve the interests of both the laborers and the country.
When speaking of exported labor, the Chinese cannot help but think of the Philippines and compare it with China.
In the eyes of many Chinese, the Philippines is not a very successful country. In discussing national development models, Chinese academics typically criticize the country, saying, "Everyone says the Philippines has American-style democracy, doesn't it? The result is that its women all go abroad to be housemaids!"
Firstly, whether the Philippines can be viewed as a democratic country remains questionable, in my opinion. But even so, the Chinese are not qualified to mock its democracy by criticizing Filipino maids.
Secondly, earning a living by working is not shameful. And in the global era, it's not bad to go abroad to labor for higher pay, rather than receiving low pay for heavy work in the domestic market. Basketball star Yao Ming's act of going to the United States to join the National Basketball Association is an example of exported labor, after all.
The export of labor has been a very significant industry in the Philippines, and Filipino maids are famous throughout Southeast Asia. For example, there are 700,000 Filipino maids in Hong Kong alone. In fact, it's not an exaggeration to say that middle-class families in Southeast Asia cannot function well without their Filipino maids.
China's current economic model is not essentially different from the Philippines -- both countries are earning foreign currency by selling their cheap labor force.
Today China is proud of being called the factory of the world, but there are actually two kinds of world factories. One is like Britain during the Industrial Revolution, when its industrial products were sold worldwide. Britain relied mainly on its leading skills and efficiency in the world.
China, however, relies almost exclusively on its cheap labor. Its so-called export orientation is merely exchanging its major resource, the domestic work force, for foreign currency in the international market. The Chinese government thus becomes the biggest labor contractor in the world.
China should pay attention to at least two points if it wishes to expand its labor exports. The first is to brand its work force as a high-quality product, in the same way that watches from Switzerland and leather shoes from Italy are recognized for their high quality.
Filipino maids have succeeded in this. People want maids from the Philippines because they are known for their honesty, optimism and diligence, and employers are willing to pay them higher wages than their counterparts from other countries. This is the outcome of long-term assistance from the Philippine government and employment agencies.
Even though China produces consumer goods for the whole world, how many people will remember the Chinese laborers who make these products, working long hours under terrible conditions? Without a reputation for quality like the Filipinos have, Chinese workers' only advantage is their low price. If wages are raised, many industries will move away to other countries.
The second point the government should pay attention to is protecting the basic rights and welfare of its laborers. The Philippine Embassy in Hong Kong, for example, pays attention to employers' inappropriate treatment of its nationals. The embassy keeps a list of employers charged with abusing their maids, forcing them to work overtime or sleep on the floor, for example. If these employers do not improve the situation, they won't be allowed to hire Filipino maids.
In China's factories, some employees' working conditions and wages are far worse than those of Filipino maids. Many work very long hours for a salary of just a few hundred yuan. When will they receive reasonable payment, and take pride in their work like the Filipino maids do?
One advantage of Filipino maids is their ability to speak English; most Chinese cannot compete on this point.
Nevertheless, in many other fields Chinese workers -- such as construction workers, cooks and massage therapists -- can be globally competitive. The Chinese authorities could work on branding such fields and supporting industry associations to develop professional standards and grading systems. Especially Chinese cooks and massage therapists could be very competitive and eventually dominate the world market, for those are among China's traditional areas of excellence.
If the Chinese authorities can build the image of Chinese workers into a high-quality brand, like the Filipino maids, within the next five to ten years, the idea of China rising and surpassing the United Kingdom and the United States could be more than just empty talk.
HSBC plans more staff and growth in China
April 1st, 2008HSBC Bank does not see its business on the Chinese mainland being affected by the United States subprime credit crisis as it will increase staff numbers by up to 50 percent and has eyes set on expansion.
"There won't be any lessening of commitment to grow our business here in China," said Richard Yorke, president and chief executive officer of HSBC Bank (China) Co, yesterday in Shanghai. "We have been here for 143 years, and I expect that we will be here for another 143 years but significantly longer beyond that."
The bank targets to hire 2,000 to 2,500 new employees this year to add to its current 4,900, he said.
HSBC Group Chairman Stephen Green was on a five-day trip to China last week, and he encouraged Yorke's team to continue to grow the business quickly, Yorke said.
He also said the bank "will continue to grow very, very strongly in this business," declining to be more specific.
The bank yesterday announced the launch of its private banking business in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou to woo the growing number of millionaires on the mainland.
The bank targets high net worth clients with assets of more than US$10 million and with investable assets of US$3 million. To open accounts, a minimum deposit of US$1 million is required.
The bank got the go-ahead from the regulator to open the business in Guangzhou on February 4 and for the Beijing and Shanghai operations on March 18.
The bank is "comfortable" with the lending growth amid the current tight monetary policy in China, Yorke said.
HSBC China posted strong growth in 2007 on the country's booming economy and the opening up of the banking market to overseas players. The bank's operating income grew 44.2 percent to US$451 million. Its pre-tax profit grew 28.7 percent to US$165 million.
HSBC, Citigroup, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of East Asia, locally incorporated in April 2007 so as to be able to offer unlimited yuan services to mainland residents.
Nestle opens ice cream plant in south China
March 28th, 2008GUANGZHOU, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Nestle opened a new ice cream plant in south China on Wednesday, demonstrating its aim to further develop the Chinese market.
The 22,000-sq-m factory, in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, will increase the food and drink giant's annual ice cream productivity to 64 million liters, three times the output from its old facilities.
The plant, involving 250 million yuan (about 35.6 million U.S. dollars) in investment, will help Nestle to promote its high-end ice cream brand in south China and meet the growing consumer desire for ice cream products, said Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman and CEO of the Nestle Group worldwide at the opening ceremony.
Nestle, the world's largest food company, has opened 20 factories in 17 regions across China since it entered the market two decades ago, employing more than 13,000 people.
The Swiss-headquartered group said earlier this month that it expected underlying sales to rise in 2008 at a similar rate to 7.4percent last year, a big jump from its long-term growth target of between 5 and 6 percent.
Boo hoo for Yahoo! workers
March 27th, 2008YAHOO! Inc's China unit will cut workers after the Internet search site failed to narrow the gap with the country's market leader, Baidu.com Inc.
The Yahoo! unit will dismiss "fewer than 100" employees, Porter Erisman, a spokesman for Alibaba.com Corp, which operates the search site in China, said yesterday.
Yahoo! has lost share in China's Internet market, the world's second biggest, as Baidu and Google Inc introduced services including online map searches and spreadsheets.
Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo!, which has reported seven straight quarters of declining profit, said in a statement on January 21 that it will "eliminate some areas of the business."
Baidu's market share in China rose to 60 percent in the fourth quarter from 58 percent a year earlier, while Google's climbed to 26 percent from 17 percent, according to researcher Analysys International.
Yahoo's share fell to 9.6 percent from 13 percent, Analysys said.
Recruitment agencies tap new markets to hire staff
March 21st, 2008Recruitment agencies in the GCC are tapping into new labour markets, including Bangladesh, Nepal and Vietnam, in an effort to solve the acute labour shortages in the construction industry.
Recruitment of workers from Bangladesh, in particular, has increased by more than 100 per cent compared to previous years, with more workers from the country coming to the UAE during the first two months of 2008 than the whole of 2007.
With the construction industry witnessing a boom in several Asian countries, especially India, the shortage of workers in the GCC has driven labour sourcing companies to look towards untapped markets.
As a result, expat workers’ contribution to the Bangladesh economy rose by more than 25 per cent in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, compared to the same period the previous year, according to reports quoting statistics released by Bangladesh Bank.
And the staffing problem is unlikely to be resolved soon. According to a new study by the Project Management Institute (PMI), the construction sector in the GCC will experience an alarming shortage of workers during the next five years.
Majeed Al Gassab, President of the Bahrain Society of Engineers and the Vice-President of the Bahrain’s PMI chapter, told Emirates Business the movement of workers away from the GCC has already started and immediate measures have to be put in place to retain remaining staff and find new sources for recruitment.
A recent PMI study, Resource Challenges, said construction projects in the GCC planned for the next two years would require five million workers.
“Our findings were based on a market study conducted by the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED). Based on the expected project workload, it was estimated construction activities in the Gulf may reach the peak at about 12 billion man hours in 2010. This is equivalent to about five million labourers,” said Al Gassab.
“It is evident skilled workers are already moving out of the Gulf for better opportunities and it will be a great risk to carry on with inexperienced labourers,” he added.
While the shortage is more intense in the semi and unskilled labour sectors, agencies are also finding it difficult to recruit experienced engineers, project managers and architects.
Phil Edmondson, general manager for EDARA, a Union Properties-owned project management company, yesterday said he has been short of 20 employees for almost two years.
“Ever since I joined the company 22 months ago, I have been looking for at least 20 staff, mostly project managers for different fields. The only problem in going for young guys is that they lack experience,” said Edmondson.
Meanwhile, as a result of the crunch, the average salary of a project manager in the UAE has increased from Dh35,000 to Dh45,000, while it has become difficult to find commercial and development managers for even Dh50,000.
“Amid all this confusion is the poaching menace. Companies are willing to simply buy employees by offering a 100 per cent salary increase,” said Edmondson.
“One of my staff, whose salary was Dh27,000, was brought over by another company for Dh43,000. The government should introduce a new three-year fixed visa where the employees should not be allowed to move jobs.”
The shortage is so severe that several companies are settling for candidates who do not meet the required criteria and, in some cases, have only half the required years of experience.
Phil Starr, recruitment director at Real HR, said companies no longer have the time to wait for ideal candidates.
“Several projects are already delayed and companies cannot afford to wait further for their ideal candidates,” said Starr.
The GCC’s construction industry is valued at more than Dh1.9 trillion and according to news reports more than 160 construction projects in the UAE alone are delayed because of labour shortages.
While in previous years, the majority of the semi and unskilled construction workers were from India, the number is dwindling. With construction industry in India growing rapidly and the increasing value of rupee against the dirham, companies are finding it difficult to convince recruits from India to take jobs in the Gulf.
Mohammad Jindran of Sharjah-based Overseas Labour Supply said there has been a severe drop of interest from Indian construction workers.
“We do not like to go to India for selection anymore as we only manage to get 30 per cent of our requirement. Bangladesh, Nepal and even Vietnam have emerged as the new recruiting areas.
“In Bangladesh, we are able to get quantity and we are trying our best to train them and improve their quality. The problem with hiring semi-skilled workers from the Phillipines and China is that their salary structure is way too high,” said Jindran.
While a qualified worker from the Phillipines can charge almost 50 per cent more in wages compared to Bangladeshis, recruits from China often expect three times more, Jindran said.
The Gulf’s shortage has turned into a boom for labour exporters Bangladesh and Nepal. Total remittance receipts to Bangladesh from migrant workers hit a record $4.8 billion (Dh17.6bn) in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, marking a 26.23 per cent growth over the same period last year, according to figures from Bangladesh Bank.
Battling the labour shortage
Companies in the GCC are devising innovative methods to handle the labour shortage problem, including renting out their staff, industry experts said.
As part of the new trend, sub-contracting companies have begun renting out their workers for short period of time from one to three months to other companies.
“If I do not need some of my workers for one or two months, there is no harm in renting out their services to companies that are in need of manpower,” said Mohammad Jindran of Overseas Labour Supply.
While unskilled employees are generally paid Dh3 per hour in the UAE, their companies are renting them out for almost Dh12 per hour.
“The cost of sub-contracting a semi-skilled worker goes as high as Dh18 per hour. Such is the demand,” added Jindran.
Meanwhile, Majeed Al Gassab, President of the Bahrain Society of Engineers, suggested owners and contractors align their business plans by working together to examine the feasibility and timing of projects.
“Just by deferring some projects we can eliminate redundancy and duplication of efforts. This will not only benefit local economies but will also eliminate competition between overloaded contractors, and manufacturers. Maximum benefit could be achieved by concentrating efforts and by using the best expertise on projects.”
Hong Kong's Jobless Rate Fell to 3.3%, Lowest in 10 Years
March 19th, 2008Hong Kong's unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to the lowest in a decade, aiding household consumption in a city where overseas sales are weakening.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate for the three months ended Feb. 29 was 3.3 percent, the lowest since March 1998, the government said today on its Web site. The median forecast of 13 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for the rate to be unchanged from January's 3.4 percent.
Banks, retailers and accounting firms are hiring workers as Hong Kong benefits from its proximity to China, the world's fastest-growing major economy. Low unemployment, tax cuts and falling interest rates may boost consumer spending and help the city weather an export slowdown led by weaker U.S. demand.
``A strong labor market, stimulating fiscal policy environment and negative real interest rates will support domestic consumption, putting it on a solid, upward trend,'' said Wang Qian, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Hong Kong.
Among 802 employers in Hong Kong, 33 percent said they plan to add workers in the second quarter of 2008, up from 27 percent in the previous three months, according to a survey by U.S. recruitment company Manpower Inc.
Yuanta Securities, Taiwan's largest brokerage, will increase staff at its Hong Kong unit by four times this year, President Alex Lee said last month.
Hong Kong's economy expanded 6.7 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the 18th quarter of uninterrupted growth and the longest expansion since 1997. Household spending jumped 10 percent on rising wages and lower borrowing costs.
Economic growth will slow to between 4 percent and 5 percent this year from a 6.3 percent expansion in 2007 as external demand weakens, Financial Secretary John Tsang forecast last month. The government cut profit and salary taxes, waived property rates and scrapped wine and beer duties to encourage consumption.
An improved job market may escalate inflation as companies pass on higher labor costs to consumers.
Consumer prices rose 3.2 percent in January from a year earlier. Eliminating the temporary effect of the property rate waiver, inflation accelerated to 4.3 percent, the highest level since May 1998.
China domestic demand still strong: Q&A with NXP regional executive for Greater China, Mike Yeh
March 13th, 2008While seeing demand for electronics in China not being dampen by heavy snows that fell there, NXP Semiconductors has a positive outlook for demand prior to the Olympics Games and sees several directions for potential business. Digitimes recently had the opportunity to talk with the company's regional executive for Greater China, Mike Yeh, about his outlook for China and the global industry in 2008.
Q: What is the impact of the heavy snows that fell in China on the domestic market there? Will effects from the snowstorms have any impact on the market in terms of demand and supply in the second quarter?
A: Although China has revised down its gross domestic production (GDP) growth forecast due to effects from the snowstorms, the adjusted rate is just one percentage point. GDP in China is still going to maintain double-digit growth in 2008.
Based on feedback from downstream customers, they initially worried that product distribution and consumption would be affected by traffic delays and a reduction in the number of people being able to make it back to their hometowns for the holidays. But they now have observed that inventory has already been sold out and consumption has not been affected.
Such good news in turn has spurred sales of consumer electronics such as TVs and handsets. Sales of these types of electronics are expected to remain strong. Based on the observed situation, impact from the previous snowstorms on sales in China is under control.
Q: What do you think about the Olympic Games? How will the event impact sales of electronics in China?
A: The market is currently positive about the Olympics. As the Olympics is being hosted by China, domestic demand for electronics will pick up considerably. We see business potential in the video, audio, data transmission and battery sectors.
As people wish to see Olympic events in realtime, no matter whether through their TVs, handsets or portable consumer electronics, this will help spur corresponding demand. For those who are unable to receive realtime broadcasts, good quality audio transmission is also what consumers are looking for. And as people are going to share information or communicate about the events, demand will stem from here as well. When demand for portable electronics ramps up, this will also spur corresponding demand for battery and power management (PWM) ICs.
Q: What do you think about the industry outlook for the second quarter and 2008 as a whole?
A: Marketers mostly project that demand for electronics will have noticeable growth in the second quarter prior to the Olympics. Yet, as of today, the strength of customer pull-in is not clear nor strong. This may possibly be due to an economic slowdown in Europe and the US which has prompted many branded customers to be rather conservative.
In China, domestic demand is still strong without a doubt, but as new labor laws are being enacted, the higher labor cost has prompted local vendors to be more cautious about their business outlook. To conclude, industry players should be cautious about the trend in the China market and the overall global trend in 2008.
Q: What are your comments about the recent consolidation speculations about NXP?
A: Any consolidation that creates synergy is a possibility. For NXP, we cannot comment further. But I will say NXP continues to seek efficient consolidations in order to speed up growth of our sales and market share.
Q: What do you think about possible future relaxing of restrictions on the flow of IT professionals between Taiwan and China?
A: I think Taiwan professionals will have stronger incentives to develop in China. But as the quality of China R&D professionals grows, NXP will continue strengthening our R&D works in China, while recruiting experienced engineers from Taiwan. The most important impact from a possible relaxing of regulations is enhanced production efficiency and division of labor.
China could face a 'very severe' unemployment situation
March 12th, 2008With 20 million new jobseekers flooding the market every year, China could face a 'very severe' unemployment situation, the country's labour minister has warned.
Tian Chengping predicted that the vast amount of new entrants to both the rural and urban job markets would continue for some time, according to AFX News.
Chinese premier Wen Jiabao recently called for more measures to limit unemployment, which he wants kept below 4.5 per cent in towns and cities.
They include retraining workers with out-dated skills and doing more to encourage small start-up businesses.
Currently there is no definite figure for unemployment in China, which the news agency blames on unreliable employment statistics, but it predicts that it is "probably higher" than the rate of four per cent given at the end of 2007.
Despite concerns about joblessness, it was recently reported that some big-name firms in China are having difficulty recruiting enough migrant workers to meet their needs.
All hail China's new job-seekers
March 4th, 2008BEIJING, Feb. 27 -- Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, held its first labor fair of the lunar new year a few days ago, but the job-seekers gathered there appeared not to be as enthusiastic as their counterparts of years past. For the first time, the number of job-hunters fell far short of the number of vacancies advertised at the fair: 4,000 versus 7,000.?
The employers could only raise their salary standards - on average, to 1,160 yuan (155 U.S.dollars) a month, representing an increase of 13 percent compared with previous years.
Similar phenomena also appeared in other cities in the Pearl River Delta area, one of China's major manufacturing centers. The area has for years been the largest employer of migrant laborers from the country's rural areas.
The changes sweeping over the job-seeking public have prompted some economic commentators to cry out in alarm that China is losing its advantage in cheap labor. But some others have argued against such worries, saying that on the whole, the country's labor supply still exceeds the demand.
Though they contradict each other, the two sides share a common concern: the impact of changing labor costs on China's exports, which have been a major engine driving the nation's economic growth.
In my opinion, we should be pleased rather than worried about the situation. Manual laborers can now expect better wages, which is good for both social justice and the wellbeing of the economy.
Most of the manual workers employed by manufacturers in coastal regions are migrants from the country's impoverished rural provinces. In the past two decades or so, they have contributed greatly to our nation's economic development by working diligently, for whatever their employers would like to pay.
Their pay has been capped at too low a level for too long a time. An investigation in 2004 found that the average monthly wage for migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta region had risen only 68 yuan in 12 years.
In the past few years, that level has risen at a comparatively faster rate. The national average monthly wage for rural migrant workers rose from the 539 yuan in 2004 to 946 yuan in 2006.
The rises in pay and laborers' wage expectations can be attributed to a number of reasons. Two of them merit our notice. One is that rural residents' incomes have increased significantly in the past few years thanks to the strong economic growth and favorable government policies (the annulment of the agricultural tax, for instance). A survey by the statistics authorities late last year indicated that rural residents' per capita cash income had hit 3,321 yuan in the first three quarters of last year, up 14.8 percent year-on-year.
The low wages at manufacturing plants are no longer enough to attract rural migrant workers.
The second reason is that rural migrant workers themselves have changed. The new generation is more knowledgeable and modern-minded than their parents and less tolerant of harsh working conditions and low pay. They are more ready to change jobs. And their consumption habits inspire them to seek higher pay.
These changes are encouraging signs of the progress our society has made. Rising living standards benefit our economy because they will bolster the population's buying power, which is the most essential contributor to the growth of the economy.
Encouragingly, consumption has shown signs of growing. China's GDP grew a hefty 11.4 percent last year, with consumption contributing 4.4 percentage points, investment 4.3 percentage points and exports 2.7 percentage points. Consumption surpassed investment for the first time in several years.
BMW to cut 8,000 jobs and warns more could go in the future
February 29th, 2008BMW, the world's largest premium carmaker, will cut more than 8,000 jobs as it attempts to make radical savings.
The German carmaker also held up the threat of more job cuts in the future if the euro continued to strengthen above $1.50.
The majority of the job losses will come in Germany, in what is a shock at the company that has been an enduring success story. About 2,500 permanent jobs and 5,000 temporary positions will go there.
BMW wants to cut a further 600 permanent jobs overseas as it tries to make annual cost savings of €500 milion (£381 million) immediately and €6 billion by 2012. In December BMW said that it would need to restructure to turn around its profitability. BMW has a total workforce of 80,000.
The IG Metall union called the announcement unnecessary. Werner Neugebauer, the union's chief in Bavaria and a member of BMW's supervisory board, said that Ernst Baumann, the carmaker's head of personnel, “appears to think he has to play the agitator in order to be able to push up the share price by leaving the work force in a state of permanent insecurity”.
Of BMW's 28,000 overseas employees, the 600 job cuts are likely to fall at its sales subsidiaries. Mini, BMW's successful operation at Oxford, and its Hams Hall engine plant near Birmingham are not thought likely to be affected.
BMW has increased its use of temporary workers in order to scale its workforce up and down. The company will increase flexible working across its operations, including partial retirement, so that it can boost employment in busy periods and scale it back when production needs subside. The group said that it needed to boost its productivity per worker.
BMW has been hit by the weakness of the dollar in its exports, although it has a factory in South Carolina making SUVs and its Z4 Roadster. BMW unveils its annual profits on March 18. Last year pre-tax profit excluding exceptional items increased 3 per cent to €4.12 billion.
Responding to the New Labor Law
February 28th, 2008New Chinese employment legislation, the Labor Contract Law (LCL), is due to be promulgated on January 1st 2008.
The response to the law so far has been a kind of fearful anticipation but all of this hand wringing is not going to change the fact of the law’s promulgation. The best way to deal with any new issue is to make decisions about responses, and start implementing now. The key question centres on the specific things HR should be doing to keep itself on the right side of the new law.
Here are a few suggestions:
Employee Handbook or Policy Manual - Regardless of your company size, this needs to be set up now, as it is mandated in the new law. It should set out the internal rules and regulations that deal with employee relations, and specify procedures for dealing with conflict situations like termination. Under the new law you would be best advised to have a paper trail to deal with difficult situations, such as firing staff, and the end of the line for this paper trail is your Employee Handbook.
Salary Ranges - If your policy is to specify salary ranges to job applicants then review your advertising and make sure to state the range very clearly in advertisements. In addition to the new labor law, there is also the Employment Promotion Law which also takes effect on January 1st. It specifies that recruitment information in advertisements published by employers should be the same as that mentioned in job interviews. Again you have the paper trail issue.
Overtime - As an exercise, calculate the cost of overtime to your company. The logic is that you may be required to pay amounts that you had not considered before. Under the new law employees in China cannot work longer than forty hours a week. Any time worked over that is liable for overtime pay and the new law makes this enforceable.
Discrimination - Look for a new trap: discrimination. The new Employment Promotion Law says that applicants for employment will be entitled to sue employers for discrimination. This is based on ethnicity, age, gender, race, religious belief or physical disability. Although multinational companies have tended to be on the right side of this issue for a long time, it is still worth reviewing your current advertising and hiring procedure. You don’t know what lurks under rocks until you turn them over. (Oddly, the government will issue a list of ‘jobs unsuitable for women’ to assist companies stay on the right side of the law.)
Job Descriptions - Review your process, if you have one, for creating Job Descriptions. If you don’t have one, create one. The new law says that employees cannot be sacked at will anymore. You have to have well-defined reasons with a paper trail back to documents that the employee has signed, along with measures that support your claim that they are incompetent.
Documentation - Review every document that you sign with an employee, including NDAs and non-compete agreements. The new law makes you liable for any negative outcome because the assumption (mine) is that you hold all the cards, and have superior power within the employer/employee relationship. Any slip-ups will cost your company money, not the employee or the job candidate. (Note: Under the new law employees cannot be forced to sign non-competitive agreements. This belongs only to the realm of senior management.)
Temporary Staff - Deal with all and any temporaray staff that you have in your office or factory. You need to either hire them on a contract or let them go. You may have some leeway on this but any delay is at your own risk. Employees, backed by willing and well-prepared employment lawyers, will be able to claim double salary for months worked without a contract. The limit is 12 months’ salary but that’s not much comfort.
Permanent Staff - The use of employment contracts in China has been the norm for multinationals in China. At the end of the contract they have often been renewed without much thought because the impact of that decision was low.
Under the new law the employer is permitted to enter into only two employment contracts with the employee. After that they are on an open-term contract, which means they leave or stay largely at their own discretion, and of course excepting breach of contract. So every permanent employee needs to be reviewed. Or not. (This should have been dealt with some time ago and can only be seen as a legal loophole. One that you might not want to go through. Chinese professional staff have choices, and under the new law they also have power.)
Employee Council - The new rulings on the issue of unions is still not clear, but what is clear is that companies cannot bar employees from setting up unions.
An alternative is to set up an employee council that represents the employees and solicits their opinions. This body does have a say on issues like your Employee Manual, and it is advisable to have one because it can make the approval of this kind of document easier. If you don’t have an Employee Council you have to get every-single-staff-member to agree to each issue one by one. (The jury is still out on this one.)
It would also be advisable to create an Employee Council as a way of beginning a new kind of conversation with employees. Not having had previous experience of this issue, most Chinese employees do not have the language of employer/employee cooperation, and this council would give them the breathing space to develop that ability.
Public Relations - This may not seem like an obvious department to be involved in anything to do with the new labor law, but according to Image Thief the underlying narrative in China is “Chinese employee vs. callous multinational employer or foreign boss”.
Foreign companies are easy targets, with deep pockets and an aversion to negative publicity. He suggests that you consider the various possible negative PR scenarios that could happen, and prepare a response. It’s all about managing risk.
Clearly the power has shifted in favor of the employee in China. This is not to be feared, as fear tends to be immobilizing. The new labor law really only brings China in line with many other countries around the world. The bonus is that the establishment of the rule of law is an absolute good in itself.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared for the change because the new law may overreach on behalf of employees for a period of time, until employers push back.
New individual tax threshold to go into effect March 1
February 25th, 2008China's amended individual income tax law, which raises the tax levy threshold from 1,600 yuan (about US$220) a month to 2,000 yuan, will go into effect on March 1, accompanied by some regulations on its implementation.
Individuals who earn money from contractual operations and contract to lease businesses will also enjoy a raised tax threshold from 1,600 yuan to 2,000 yuan, according to the regulations.
This was out of consideration that the living costs of those individuals and their family members had increased, said a joint explanation on the regulations made by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation.
Individual tax payers who have housing in China but work overseas, or live overseas but earn income in China, will keep their tax threshold of 4,800 yuan a month unchanged, according to the regulations.
This will help reduce the gap between tax thresholds of different taxpayers, the joint explanation said.
The raised individual tax threshold will reduce government revenues by 30 billion yuan annually, according to official statistics. It will also mean that 70 percent of income earners will be exempt from income tax, against 50 percent now.
The individual income tax cutoff point was raised from 800 yuan a month to 1,600 yuan starting in 2006. This was based on consumption expenditures for basic living costs at the time.
However, the consumer price index rose several times last year, further burdening low- and medium-income earners.
20% university graduates fail to find jobs in 2007
February 22nd, 2008About 20 percent of university students in China, who graduated in 2007, have so far failed to find jobs, according to a blue paper issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Nearly five million university students graduated in 2007, but one million of them have still not found jobs, according to the blue paper released earlier this month.
"This is not because China's policy to expand university enrollment has resulted in labor supply outweighing demand on the labor market," Yang Weiguo, associate professor of Beijing-based Renmin University said.
"In fact, the gap between supply and demand reaches 13 to 14 million people annually in recent years," said Yang, also the deputy director of the Employment Research Institute of Renmin University.
Only 270,000 students were admitted to study in universities when China resumed its university entrance exams in 1977. Thirty years later, the number of undergraduates and postgraduates surged to 5.7 million and 424,000 respectively.
However, official statistics show only five percent of China's total population have the opportunity to receive higher education,
"One of the reasons for the difficulty in university graduates finding employment is that they are unable to satisfy the needs of employers," he said.
"The other reason is that university graduates are unwilling to go to backward or remote areas, yet are unable to find jobs in metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai," he said.
He said the universities need to adjust their teaching methods and content quickly to conform to social development and demand.
He also called on the social security, educational and personnel departments to adopt more favorable policies or offer subsidies for university graduates working in relatively backward regions.
Policies to actively promote employment
February 20th, 2008China is stepping up its policy support to promote employment, said a circular released on Tuesday on the official government website.
The circular allowed localities to raise the ceiling of the amount of small loans - a policy partly designed to help the unemployed open their own businesses - and lower the threshold for qualified borrowers when necessary.
The preferential tax policies, which reduce or exempt the tax burden on the unemployed and the disabled, should continue to be carried out till the end of this year. New policies would be introduced in 2009.
The government has been taking measures to encourage companies to recruit those who have had difficulty in finding employment. It was also creating more public service jobs.
China has implemented active employment policies since 2002. It has increased the number of the newly employed in cities from 8.4 million in 2002 to 12.04 million people last year.
Employment top of agenda in Jiangsu
February 4th, 2008Providing jobs for the unemployed and university graduates will be this year's top priority for authorities in Jiangsu province, acting governor Luo Zhijun said in his report to the first session of the 11th provincial people's congress yesterday.
Luo said the government will create more than 850,000 jobs and re-employ 250,000 laid-off workers to ensure all urban families have at least one person in work.
creating jobs has been high on the government's agenda over the past five years, he said.
According to official figures, over the past five years, the provincial government has spent 5.16 billion yuan ($717 million) on employment and re-employment. Some 4.9 million new jobs have been created and 2.11 million laid-off workers have been reemployed.
But despite the government's efforts, 600,000 to 800,000 people lose their jobs in Jiangsu every year, and some 600,000 join the labor force, official figures show.
"This puts great pressure on the government, but we will take an active approach and continue to carry out a positive employment policy to improve the situation," Luo said.
As in the past, the government will provide free job training for laid-off workers to equip them with necessary skills for new positions, Chen Zhengning, director of the provincial labor and social security department, said.
"We will also take advantage of the rich vocational training resources in the province to organize skills training for high school graduates and unskilled workers," he said.
The measures will be welcome news for Zhang Xin, a Japanese-language major who graduated in July from the Jiangsu Food Vocational School.
The 22-year-old has been out of work ever since.
"I have submitted job applications to dozens of companies and have gone for a few interviews, but they all said they had nothing for me," Zhang said.
His mother, who earns 850 yuan ($118) a month, is the family's sole breadwinner. His 49-year-old father was made redundant when the factory he worked for went through restructuring in 2001. He has held a number of part-time jobs but nothing since the end of last year.
Chen said the authorities are working hard to ease the financial burden on families like Zhang's.
By the end of last year, 98 percent of retirees in cities and counties were covered by the pension system and 88 percent of people had medical insurance, according to the government's work report.
Luo said the government will this year spend 200 million yuan ($27.8 million) on upgrading facilities at rural and community health clinics.
Web now a hub for job hunters and recruiters
January 25th, 2008JOB seekers have a new way to find vacancies with the emergence of Zhi Ke (Job Key) on the Internet, allowing well-connected people to make money by finding positions.
Several Websites featuring Job Keys have appeared, mostly since July last year.
Operators get their cut from the online trading platform, and are tapping into a strong demand: hundreds of thousands of Chinese are now surfing the net in search for better paid positions.
Job Keys, many of whom are professionals at headhunting firms, can get 70 percent of the money once their reference lands the applicants their desired positions. The rest is kept by the Website as its commission.
While these Websites are not reaping huge profits, it will take time to see whether they can seriously compete with professional job Websites which offer free job information to individuals and rely fees from companies posting vacancies.
But it's good news for job seekers as there have been many cases where people have found better positions.
"What we want to do is to complement the current channels that job seekers use, given that it's becoming difficult for many of them to find the right place, especially university
graduates,'' said Zhou Changqing, general manager of Facejob.cn, a Beijing-based Job Key site.
China began to expand university recruitment in 1999 to improve the overall level of citizens' education background. But this led to the number of college graduates reaching record highs, creating a tough, competitive environment for those seeking employment.
Adding to their difficulty is many students are graduating from their chosen majors only to find the job market has changed since they picked the so-called "hot courses,'' which were expected to land them good jobs.
Zhou said college graduates had not yet emerged as loyal customers, although some had made offers up to 50,000 yuan (US$6,849) for a good job in Beijing.
Total offers on Facejob now are worth 8.86 million yuan, from about 5,600 job seekers, mostly with three years' working experience. Meanwhile, it has nearly 2,000 registered Job Keys, according to Zhou.
The most sought-after jobs on the site are entrance level ones, such as secretarial, administrative support and sales staff.
They are priced usually at about 2,000 yuan apiece, as the site fee is generally based on their expected one month's salary.
While Zhou's site doesn't require job seekers to deposit their offered money in advance to encourage users to register, Zkeer.com, also Beijing-based, does.
"It's a common practice for Witkey Websites to receive the money before achieving the task,'' said Gong Deping, founder of Zkeer.
The Job Key, indeed, is a specialized model of Witkey, or Wei Ke in Chinese, which allows users to sell their knowledge, information and ideas online, and enjoys greater
popularity than Job Key.
Yang Kexi, a spokesman for Taskcn.com which is China's leading Witkey site, said job references account for only a small percentage of their business.
"We believe that the real advantage of the Witkey sites is to serve as an outsourcing platform for corporate users,'' he said.
"There are more job-related tasks at the beginning of our operation but it seems such tasks are not well received, for the prize is usually very small,'' Yang said.
The reason, probably, is there are tons of free vacancies on the professional human resource service Websites where competition is intense.
On ChinaHR.com, China's largest HR service site by sales, there are two million vacancies every day on average, which are available to 15.6 million registered users
for free. It charges the corporate users for posting jobs and consulting.
Officials with ChinaHR declined to comment on the Job Key sites, or whether they have found any of their employees doing part time for such sites.
China Yahoo said to be cutting staff
January 23rd, 2008CHINA Yahoo, a subsidiary under the nation's largest e-commerce firm Alibaba.com Corp, is trimming its workforce and sending staff back to the parent company, sources close to the company said.
"Dozens of people," including mid level managers and directors, are returning to Alibaba while others are asked to leave with compensation for their service, they said, asking for anonymity.
Tao Ran, a spokesman for Hangzhou-based Alibaba, refused to comment yesterday.
Alibaba took over Yahoo China - which was later changed to China Yahoo - in 2005 and was paid an additional US$1 billion from Yahoo Inc, which in return gained a 35-percent stake in Alibaba.
Since the deal, a revamp of the acquired business has been going on as Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, is trying to integrate it into their e-commerce platform, with ideas like launching shopping search functions. The business was renamed China Yahoo last year.
China Yahoo had about 800 staff as of September 2006. It was still recruiting sales and marketing staff in October and November. The latest figure on its employee number was not known.
Chinese Boutique Hotel Company Plans Green Facility
December 5th, 2007URBN Hotels & Resorts says it will open its first boutique property in Shanghai in December 2007 and position it as an eco-friendly business.
Located on Jiaozhuo Road just north of Nanjing Road and close to the former French Concession district, the new 26-room URBN Hotels is positioning itself as a carbon neutral and earth conscious hotel. It has been converted from a former 1970s post office building and will feature contemporary design with Shanghainese influences.
In May 2007, URBN entered into an agreement with Climate Bridge, an international intermediary offering bespoke solutions for companies and industries to reduce and offset greenhouse gas emissions. The total amount of energy the hotel consumes, including staff commutes, food and beverage delivery, and the energy used by each guest, will be tracked to calculate the carbon footprint. URBN will then purchase credits to neutralize its footprint by investing in "green" energy development and emission reduction projects in China.
Hotel guests can also choose to purchase carbon credits from the program to offset their flights. All credits are verified and approved by the United Nations. This voluntary action by URBN Hotels is significant, considering China is the fastest growing emitter of greenhouse gases and is central to the success or failure of the global response to climate change. URBN is also committed to developing and operating a green property. By renovating an existing structure, focusing on using recycled and locally sourced materials such as reclaimed hardwoods and old Shanghai bricks, and introducing eco-friendly solutions like passive solar shades, rain water retention basins, and water based AC systems, URBN hopes to set an example for other Chinese businesses and industries.
There are plans to develop 20 URBN Hotels in tourist and business cities throughout the country in the next 3 years.
City's top businesses selected
November 28th, 2007THE city's 100 leading businesses for the past year have been chosen by the Shanghai Private Enterprise Association.
The chosen businesses show the top profits, pay the most tax and employ the most people.
Some of the best known city businesses in manufacturing, commerce and the service industry - like the Spring International Travel Service and the JuneYao Group - are in the list.
Commercial and service industry businesses make up two thirds of the top 100 companies which shows the accent of the city on these fields and the needs of the citizens, the association said.
The top 100 private enterprises have an average registered balance of more than 69 million yuan (US$9.3 million) and there are 12 of these companies with a registered balance of more than 200 million yuan
Foreign training key to Chinese success
October 20th, 2007Duncan Mavin, Financial Post
Published: Thursday, October 04, 2007
In China's red-hot recruitment market, business professionals are desperate to get ahead of the competition, with qualifications and overseas experience among the most sought after resume credentials.
'Returnees,' Chinese workers who have spent several years honing their business skills abroad, often have their pick of the best jobs, as does any Chinese executive with foreign training.
It's a trend that is leading to a wealth of opportunities for Canadian organizations able to provide the right kind of training.
"It's still a small part of our business, but it's been growing nicely in the past three years," says Roberta Wilton, chief executive officer of CSI, the Canadian Securities Institute.
At Toronto City Hall in August, for instance, twenty-eight Chinese executives became the latest graduates of the Canadian Securities Institute.
The business students from Guangfa Securities, a full-service securities firm based in Gaungzhou, China, graduated from a two-month course organized by CSI in conjunction with the Securities Association of China.
Hundreds of financial professionals from China have participated in CSI's executive style training programs in the past couple of years.
But it isn't the only organization to spot the opportunity.
Ads for the University of Western Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business are impossible to miss in Hong Kong, where they are plastered all over subways and other prominent places.
The Ivey school has a modern campus in Hong Kong -- with a high-profile location in the heart of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre -- and another office in Beijing, as well as alumni associations in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Schools from all over the world are catching on fast, says Pete Fiaschi, the head of international marketing at Newcastle College, a vocational school in the northeast of England that focuses on the business of arts, tourism and sports.
Toronto-born Mr. Fiaschi spends most of the summer months travelling through China, including to relatively unknown cities such as Fuzhou or Qingdao, recruiting 200 or so Chinese students whose fees are a significant source of income for the school. In July, he set up permanent regional offices in Beijing and in Dalian, in northern China, to deal with the growing competition for Chinese students.
CSI, too, has a permanent office in Beijing and is about to open a Shanghai office. It also has partnerships with Chinese universities, including the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, and the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.
There is competition among foreign training providers, says Ms. Wilton. In particular, many of the big foreign banks and securities firms offer training courses, as do the international consulting and accounting firms.
CSI is betting its North American perspective plus its access to trainers from a variety of real live businesses gives it an edge over some more academic institutions as well as companies that can only provide insight from one industry.
Offering courses jointly with the Chinese regulator also helps build credibility, which will lead to deeper inroads in China, says Ms. Wilton.
Less than 40% of office workers enjoy summer welfare
August 20th, 2007FEWER than 40 percent of office workers in Shanghai receive extra benefits during sweltering weather, a number that still surpasses other big cities around the country.
In the past, it was common for employers to hand out free drinks, ice cream and other treats to employees when temperatures rose, but that tradition has disappeared in many office to the discontent of modern office workers, according to a recent survey.
The survey, which was conducted by 51job.com, a Nasdaq-listed human resources company, asked office employees in 15 major Chinese cities, including 676 people in Shanghai, about their company's summer benefits policy.
About 37 percent of the respondents in the city said that their company offered some relief to employees, a percentage that topped that of other cities.
Pre-paid shopping cards are the most popular summer benefit, according to the survery. Half of the benefit providers distributed a card with an average amount ranging from 800 yuan (US$105) to 1,000 yuan.
Beverages, daily necessities such as towers, suntan lotion and cash allowances are also popular summer, the survey reported.
Shanghai creates 443,000 new jobs in first half
July 30th, 2007SHANGHAI has created 443,000 new jobs by the end of June this year, fulfilling 88.6 percent of the city's yearly target of 500,000 positions.
More than 20,000 people so far have found jobs through a Full Employment Community program in 23 neighborhoods in Pudong New Area this year, the Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau announced yesterday.
The program, the first of its kind in Shanghai, grants that at least one person in each household is employed. Meanwhile, those between the ages of 40 and 50, who usually find it hard to get jobs, have been offered training programs, job opportunities as well as applications for insurance and subsidies, Jiefang Daily reported today.
The bureau launched a work loan policy in April to encourage self employment, a way to relieve unemployment pressure.
The bureau said it would offer loan guarantees of up to 500,000 yuan (US$66,050) to people starting their own businesses. The loan would be interest-free if paid back in time, the report said.
In the city's suburbs, more than 5,000 newly-established labor organizations have created 15,000 jobs in the first half of this year, the report said.
The bureau also set up an employment promotion coalition with companies. The eyeglasses and watch repairer Sanlian Group is among the participants aiming to provide more jobs and intern opportunities for unemployed youth.
More than 14,000 young people, mostly vocational graduates, have registered to take internships with these companies, an increase of 162 percent from last year. Sixty percent of these people were hired after internships, the report said.
The government said in March that it planned to keep the registered unemployment rate below 4.5 percent this year,
But the employment situation looks grim as more than 143,000 students will graduate from colleges and universities in the city this year, an 11 percent increase from last year, which should add to job market pressure.
Talent shortage linked to benefit cuts
July 27th, 2007A SHORTAGE of professionals has led to a decrease in the number of multinational companies offering benefits such as flexible work hours, sabbatical leave and gym memberships to their employees this year, according to a recent survey.
Companies in China offer the second lowest number of benefits in Asia, leading only Japan, according to the report by Hudson Recruitment, a Nasdaq-listed human resources company.
Hudson surveyed about 2,500 multinational company executives in Asia about their hiring expectations during the third quarter this year. Altogether 673 of the respondents are based on the Chinese mainland, mostly in Shanghai.
Among all sectors, 44 percent of respondents said that their companies have a work-life balance policy, which is designed to enable staff to balance the demands of their job and personal life.
The figure fell slightly from 47 percent when the same question was asked in the second quarter of 2005 for the previous survey, the report said.
Companies in the information technology sector are the most likely to offer work-life benefits, with more than 51 percent of those companies having such policies.
The sharpest decline was reported in the banking sector, where the percentage of benefit-offering companies dropped from 56 percent to 40 percent.
Angie Eagan, general manager of Hudson China, said that decline was the result of heavy recruiting by banks.
"Most employers do understand the importance of work-life balance, but they just cannot afford the luxury to be flexible with people due to a shortage of talents," Eagan said.
She added that benefits are easily applied in fully staffed companies. Many companies are struggling to find enough trained workers, however, making it difficult to offer such benefits.
The report indicated that employment expectations remain high on the mainland. Sixty percent of respondents plan to increase headcount in the third quarter of this year, the highest level in Asia.
Entrepreneur helps Business People Work w Chinese
July 24th, 2007Entrepreneur helps Business People Work with Chinese
16 July 07
Doing business in China can be a tricky experience for those with little or no understanding of the language and culture. Languagebite.com, a new Kiwi website, has created a Chinese language course for busy executives that is fun, engaging and takes only three minutes a day.
In what could be a world first, Joanna Lee, the entrepreneur behind the venture, is combining the convenience of online video with a powerful language learning technique. The result is a simple yet highly effective way of learning key phrases and useful information in easily digestible ¡®bites¡¯. Because each lesson is only a few minutes long, retention of the information is very high ¨C even for people who are incredibly busy. Links to the video lessons arrive daily in your inbox and are expertly designed to teach one full phrase each day.
Helping westerners to build rapport with their Chinese business partners is one of the goals of the program. ¡°We teach useful, simple phrases which will show your Chinese clients and suppliers that you have made an effort to learn some language and a little about the culture¡±. The course covers common phrases for everyday interactions including greetings, introductions, eating out, traveling and talking about family. You will even learn how to ask your taxi driver to slow down, which those who have already been to China will know can be an extremely useful phrase!
The lessons are presented by Ming Jin, a lecturer from a Beijing university. Jin happened to be in New Zealand as a research fellow with Auckland University at the time Language Bite was recruiting for the right person to front the program. ¡°Ming is a gifted presenter ¨C she makes a difficult language easy to follow¡±.
Lee, a linguistics specialist, says that Language Bite¡¯s edge over established international competitors is that it is ¡°devastatingly simple¡± - a link to a new online video lesson is emailed directly to your inbox each day. ¡°Language Bite is designed for busy people. You can learn a new language in your own time, at your own place and it only takes a few minutes each day.¡± The video clips are supported by downloadable sound bites (to store on a computer or MP3 player for practicing anytime and anywhere) and written PDF lesson summaries can be downloaded and stored for future reference.
Language Bite have launched with Mandarin Chinese however Lee has plans to introduce other languages in the near future. ¡°Feedback about the concept has been overwhelmingly positive ¨C people love the simplicity and accessibility of the method¡±. The inspiration for Language Bite came from marrying Lee¡¯s passion for languages and teaching with husband Steve¡¯s interest in e-commerce. ¡°We have developed an extremely powerful way to learn a new language. And we look forward to teaching languages in a fun, user-friendly way to New Zealanders ¨C and the world!¡±
How to find a job in China (FAQ, information & tips)
July 2nd, 2007How to find a job in China (FAQ, information & tips)
USEFUL WEB SITE SERVICES FOR CHINA JOB SEEKERS:
To get a quick and easy list of China job postings, although limited, look at the following. Also a good idea to keep these in your pocket so you have one ear on the street all the time:
Check out China Insight's very own China job listing board, or list yourself on our China job seeker board.
Sign up with Asia Net, which posts jobs on its web site and delivers e-mail regularly with job postings. Will send e-mails specifically for jobs in Asia for people with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language skills. Most are techie jobs, but once in a while something interesting comes up.
Wang & Li has all the top spots for Greater China, and competitive market information.
Alliance - mainly jobs for PRC locals, but an on-the-ground, professional recruitment group with exclusively PRC job listings.
Global Villager/ CareerChina has a full array of China oriented information.
Surf for jobs in China.
OUR PERSONAL ADVICE ON THE JOB SEARCH:
In our four years in Beijing, we have seen many friends come to China and find jobs. Many we have helped, and frequently we are asked the same questions by those considering taking the leap in coming to China. Briefly and succinctly, below are our own views on: the various paths people have taken, the types of jobs they have found, and advice if you are looking for a China job. This advice is primarily for college graduates or 20 somethings just getting their feet on their ground. If you have an MBA from a top business school or can command a top job by virtue of your experience, much of the below probably may not pertain to you.
Send us info on changes in the job market so we can update this page
MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Can I find a job?
How much can I expect to earn?
How and where should I start my job search?
How should I prepare before I come?
What are key issues when coming?
What’s important in the job search?
What types of jobs are out there?
What are key elements of a package?
What’s your final advice?
Return to (a little) China Insight main page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DETAILED INFORMATION:
CAN I FIND A JOB? Yes. You will need to be resourceful, a bit lucky (all jobs are like that), and you may have to bite the bullet by sleeping on the floor of many apartments and eating fang bian mian (instant noodles) for several months, but it can be done. The key is being persistent, patient and lucky. More important is that you first set your own goals and parameters: what field do you want to be in, what salary do you expect, how long can you live without a salary, what is your ultimate goal in coming to China, etc.?
HOW MUCH CAN I EARN? If money is most important to you, you had best look first for a China job in the States or from Hong Kong. Any company that sends you overseas will most likely give you a full package plus great benefits. The downside is that these jobs are harder to find, especially if you have limited relevant experience; it also generally means working/training in the States for 1-2 years before heading over, but not necessarily. Even if money is not important to you, before you leave the States you ought to do a heavy job search on that end. If you find a job in China (see details below on compensation levels), they will most likely pay you less, although you can live well and still save money on a decent salary. See details on compensation below.
HOW AND WHERE SHOULD I LOOK FOR A JOB? Many people come and then look for a job. It's probably the true China person who chooses this riskier strategy. We do advise you to first look in the States, though, or in Hong Kong, before packing your bags. Hong Kong can be a prime job market, but unless you have a friend there, it is very expensive to stay and hang out. Who knows also? Maybe you get a good job in Hong Kong and they send you into Mainland China. Don't come here without first trying your luck in the US and/or HK. First try the web sites we recommend above, mailing out lots of resumes and using any network(s) you may have.
HOW SHOULD I PREPARE BEFORE I COME/WHAT SHOULD I BE PREPARED FOR? Be flexible: prepare all sorts of resumes, with different slants. Be prepared to be patient and not find a job for several months. At the very minimum, before coming prepare at least one resume with the "teacher" slant, as this is a sure backup to make money.
Also, if you arrive without a job, be prepared to spend 3 months getting settled, brushing up on your Mandarin, making connections and finally landing a job. Hopefully you won't need that long. Have at least enough money in your pocket to cover your expenses for this period. Figure about 1000 USD a month should cover you no problem, but that's if you are resourceful. The big chunk of that is housing, so if you find a dorm or crash with a friend, you can live on less. Many of us can live on 200 USD a month, outside of housing, in fact. Eat cheaply, not much western food, don't party a lot, take public transport or ride a bike, and live in a dorm, crash on someone's floor, or find a cheap hotel. Be creative. Housing and visas will be your main concern (see below), and oftentimes it's advisable to come first and study or work as a teacher, just to get your feet solidly on the ground and have housing and visa problems resolved right off the bat..
WHAT IS IMPORTANT IN THE JOB SEARCH? Get to know people: network, network and network. Send out resumes; reach as many people as possible. (But don't bombard us with e-mail). Many people who come as students also intern at companies or for the US embassy commercial section, or U.S. companies. The internships in the commercial sections can often lead to good job offers. Unpaid, but you are working for your future right? If you work in a certain sector of the commercial section, you'll be able to somewhat become an expert on it, and you can impress all those US companies in that sector who come through the embassy wanting to know about China. Latching on to a big multinational from the China side, save having incredible working experience or a top degree, is extremely difficult. However, local and many small western companies can offer interesting opportunities. Likwise, another advantage of coming on a study program first, particularly the better ones, is that they will help place you in an internship. This internship sometimes can turn into a job.
If you come to Beijing without a job, it is obviously better if you have some work experience or great Chinese. Best is both. You have an advantage if you can push one of these when job seeking. Take the position of the company you are interviewing with: why would they want to hire you? A Chinese person who is experienced and already knows the environment here earns probably 1/10 to 1/2 of the salary that you might command. Or a company could hire an experienced expat who knows their company and send them to China. Your chances improve if you have relevant US job industry experience or great Chinese. Gone are the days where good Chinese will get you by, or so I have been told. Many companies are also rethinking their China strategies and cutting back, and in the wake of the the rest of Asia's economic woes, the next year or so may be a period of retrenchment. But maybe you are just lucky. Remember, for as many local expats who say it's hard to find a job here, almost 90% of them, when asked how they found their job in China (and most got their foot in the door with little work experience behind them), will say, "Oh, I just got lucky."
WHAT ARE THE KEY ISSUES TO CONSIDER WHEN I GET OFF THE PLANE? Your immediate problems will be your visa and housing. Come to China on a tourist visa and you will most likely have to leave to change it's status or to extend the visa eventually, which may mean taking an expensive trip to Hong Kong. Because of the visa problem many people come and teach (resolves both visa and housing issues right off the bat) or come as a student (also resolves both issues). This allows you to get your feet on the ground and build up connections and language skills. If you come and then look for English teaching, they will seldom give you a visa. If you take the student/teaching path, you will usually have to be locked in for 6-12 months, but that's alright. Not cool to skip out on a teaching job.
WHAT TYPE OF JOBS/OPTIONS ARE THERE?
Teaching English
Being a student
Interning in the U.S. embassy/a western company.
Translating services
Legal assistant
Journalism
Business
Odd jobs for local Chinese companies
Be creative - think outside the conventional job box
Start something on your own - be an entrepreneur
WHAT SHOULD A PACKAGE INCLUDE? There are several issues here to consider, which I elaborate on below: salary, housing allowance, healthcare, vacation/plane ticket, visa, taxes, other issues.
Your package will depend if you are hired as an expat from abroad or a local hire. Obviously if you are brought in from overseas, you can expect [spam word detected] and a full range of benefits. Salaries range in the industry, but if you are sent here, figure you will get $25-100K, hardship posting pay, standard bonuses, housing allowance of at least $1500-6000 a month, 3-5 weeks paid vacation, and round trip air ticket once a year (and perhaps more for R&R leave time), full US standard healthcare, evacuation insurance through AEA, SOS, or MEDEX, tax coverage, shipping fees covered; and all other reimbursable expenses and training that would accrue to you as an employee. Sometimes language lessons are paid for as well. If you are high enough up or the position requires it, you will get a car and/or driver, a mobile phone, or at least have travel to and from work reimbursed.
If you are hired locally, the story is drastically different, and you should have no illusions about landing the above. Your compensation of course varies on the company, your background, the industry, and your position. Nevertheless, here's what you can expect, as an expatriate local hire:
SALARY: As a journalist or clipper, you might get $500-1500 a month and up; As a translator or legal assistant $15K - 30K; In business typical salaries are between $15-50K, but can be higher if you have experience in the industry or get lucky enough to latch on to a big company. As a teacher, you can earn $5-20 an hour, but work can be patchy. Remember that your salary is only as valuable as the rest of the package: housing allowance, tax coverage, health insurance, etc. can tilt the balance.
HOUSING ALLOWANCE: Housing in Beijing is the biggest ma fan (nuisance) for expats. Living in a _legal_ apartment can run $1200 at the cheapest, and up to $2000 for something reasonably located. Don't expect much for housing allowance, but figure the cheapest "non-legal" apartments will run about $300-600 per month. Lots of local expats live in these apartments. Some expat packages don't include housing; others will give you perhaps $1500 a month at most. Few local hire expat jobs will provide you an apartment - you'll have to find one on your own. If you choose to live in local housing, you can save money, but you will always live with the fear of the gong an ju (PSB) knocking on your door. (Yes, I've been booted from my apartment more than once, but that is another topic - see separate section - seeking local housing). The good news amid all of this is that housing prices are coming down in Beijing; overdevelopment has changed the real estate scene from a seller to buyer's market (though legal housing still ain't cheap), and the government has gotten a little more lax with living in "local" housing.
HEALTHCARE: Ideally you should get a US healthcare package or evacuation service through SOS or AEA, the two biggest providers in Beijing. Figure the US healthcare package to be worth $200 per month in your salary. If you get evacuation insurance (your parents would want you to have this), it will run the company $300 per year, but doesn't mean as much if you don't have health coverage also. (A visit at Beijing United Family Hospital is around $80). In Beijing, aside from Beijing United Family Hospital, you might check out AEA and IMC for western healthcare. Cheaper but OK are the Sino-German Health clinic or the Hong Kong Medical Clinic. Otherwise, if you go to a Chinese hospital, you'll pay less and still get decent treatment at Peking Union or The Sino-Japanese Hospital. There is a difference is the healthcare provision, though; I didn't spend three years setting up Beijing United for no reason at all! For inquires about Beijing United plans, send them an e-mail
VACATION/PLANE TICKET: Standard for an expat who signs on for 1-3 years is 3-4 weeks of paid vacation, and one roundtrip ticket back to the States per year. But sometimes you won't even get this.
VISA: Your company should handle this. If you are lucky, maybe they send you to Hong Kong every 3-6 months to get a new visa. This works out well (go buy some new clothes and get a needed rest from Beijing), and also helps you avoid taxes in China. Visas are a major tou teng (headache) if your company refuses to handle this for you. Insist on your company handling your visa and all related work permits.
TAXES: Big companies will handles your taxes for you (meaning what they quote you as your salary is after tax). Smaller ones probably will deduct taxes from your pay; others will not report it and leave it up to you. If everything is done in accordance to China and U.S. law, however, you can expect the following: Around 8% of your salary should be deducted for Social Security and FICA by your company (if it is a US company). If you earn less than $72,000 year (and if you don't, I'll trade jobs with you), you are totally exempt from US personal income taxes if you spend more than 330 days of the year outside the U.S. Just make sure you file (you get an automatic extension until June 1, by the way) the 1040 form as well as the 2555-EZ form available in the States or at the US embassy. If your company follows Chinese law (not all do), you pay a graded tax (meaning you pay x% on income from 0-3000 RMB/month; y% for the amount from 3000-5000 RMB/month; z% for the amount from 5000-7000 RMB/month, etc. - note figures not accurate). Whatever you earn, figure China taxes are less than your equivalent grade in the States. For example, if you earn 25,000, you might pay on average 20% income tax in the States (correct me if I'm wrong - I've never worked there!); in China, the level is closer to 13%. In short, if you are thoroughly confused: if you work in China, make a real salary, and follow all US and China laws, you pay less taxes than if you worked in the States for the same salary -- but not THAT much lower. If you can find ways to get the company to cover taxes, all the better. If you don't pay China taxes, the burden should be on your company.
Other issues: It's always good to get perks on the job: e-mail, mobile phone, pager, computer, reimbursed rides to and from work. Standard bonuses are a month salary or less, or if you are in sales, commissions. Throw these jobs in to sweeten the deal. Standard raises vary from year to year, but are between 3-15%.
FINAL ADVICE: No matter what job you land and what compensation you get, know there will always be someone who earns more than you. The grass will always be greener on the other side, as they say. Pick a job that you are interested in, and offers you a chance to develop. If you want to know China and speak Chinese, pay attention to the company culture: will you speak Chinese? Who are the expats? What life do they lead? At the same time, remember that you have to negotiate your contract. Look out for yourself, as no one else will; that's why we've written this and put it in public access cyberspace.
[Please keep in mind too this is written based on our experience, which is all in Beijing. We hear Shanghai is a good market, if not better than Beijing, and the terms may all be different. Also I haven't updated this; if China's rapid changes are any indication of change in the job market, maybe all this will be different tomorrow.]
FINALLY, will you be able to find a job? Of course. It may not be easy and it might not be what you like right off the bat, but there are jobs out there. Know what your goals are and also know how long you can stay without real employment (read: income). Worse comes to worse, you work on your Chinese and travel and witness first-hand the greatest economic and social revolution of all time. That's not so bad, now is it? The longer you stay and dedicated you are, the better your chances become of finding something interesting (and interesting jobs there are). Also remember that once you work, and if the job is demanding, you won't have time to bum around and see the craziness of Beijing/China. If you can't find a good job, use the time to study Chinese -- trust me, you'll never regret it.
This page authored by: Michael Wenderoth[/b]
Here are a few links that will save you loads of time finding a job.
http://jobs.amcham-shanghai.org - Quality jobs from many fortune 500 companies. Mostly managerial and Director positions.
www.51job.com - Top Chinese Website: Milions of jobs and viewers, but you gotta get past the advertising first.
www.zhaopin.com - similar to above. 2nd in race.
www.chinahr.com - linked with Monster. Similar to 2 above.
www.thishanghai.com - good variety of jobs, not always best quality.
www.asiaexpat.com - Shanghai page has loads of jobs. Good amount of traffic also keeps jobs fresh.
www.shjob.cn - Shanghai version of 51 job. Recently with multi million Euro injection.
www.chinaonline.cn.com - good site in general, but not loads of postings.
All of the above are useful in finding work, the Chinese websites are more catered to Chinese obviously, even though they do have english version. The local community websites, like Shanghai Expat, are good for general range of jobs and have good response to postings or requests. Chambers of Commerce are good to find quality jobs as their members have a majority of big companies, multinationals and such.
There are plenty of ways to find jobs in Shanghai and China, but websites are certainly a good start!
State Grid Corp launches worldwide recruitment plan
July 2nd, 2007BEIJING, June 28 -- State Grid Corp of China (SGCC), the nation's largest electricity transmission company, yesterday launched a worldwide recruitment plan for its five research and development (R&D) institutes.
Under the plan, the company will recruit 100 top scientists for its R&D work, including four academicians.
The five R&D centers are China Electric Power Research Institute, Nanjing Automation Research Institute, Beijing Electric Power Construction Research Institute of SGCC, Wuhan High Voltage Research Institute of SGCC and State Power Economic Research Institute.
The five institutes now have 2,699 staff members, including four academicians.
"The move will increase the company's R&D capabilities. Last year, we made many breakthroughs in the R&D field," SGCC said in a statement.
The company last year started to build China's first ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission line. The pilot project will see 1,000 kilovolts of alternating current linking the southeastern part of Shanxi Province with Jingmen city in Hubei Province, passing Nanyang city in Central China's Henan Province.
(Source: China Daily)
Is Hong Kong Asia's New York City
July 2nd, 2007Ten years after the change-over, Hong Kong is positioning itself to become Asia's New York City.
By George Wehrfritz
Newsweek International
July 2-9, 2007 issue - On the rare days when Hong Kong's Victoria Peak isn't shrouded in smog, one of the world's great maritime hubs is on display from its heights.
Northward in Kowloon, modern container ports—their giant cranes lined up like robotic elephants on parade—load waiting freighters. Barges scurry like worker ants, flags from every port of convenience flap in the breeze and jetfoils buzz back and forth from Macau.
For decades, as East Asia's export economies rose to pre-eminence, the scene has grown more frenetic year by year. But sometime soon—or perhaps that day has already passed—the vast natural harbor that first attracted British opium traders to this spot on the South China Sea in the 1840s will reach its own peak, and start to fall.
The big question in Hong Kong—and it's one that has echoed since the jittery pre-handover days back in 1997—is elemental: what's next? Official statistics suggest a port that's maxed out, a maritime hub that has slipped from number one in the world to number three and sometime next year will likely be overtaken by a city that didn't even exist until the final few years of British rule: neighboring Shenzhen. What will happen, many Hong Kongers justifiably worry, when shipping follows the manufacturing up the Pearl River Delta into mainland China? Will their city slip to the global economic periphery, as some analysts forecast, becoming the 21st-century equivalent of Venice?
Ten years after the Union Jack flew over Hong Kong for the last time, change is most certainly afoot. But change, as they say, can be good. And although Hong Kong's traditional status as East Asia's premier shipping hub is already lost, the city is on the cusp of a reinvention so profound that the view from the peak will likely look quite different in a few decades. First there will be fewer freighters and barges. Then, perhaps, the dockyards will yield to new urban landscapes as they've done previously in places like London and New York. And, if all goes to plan, the scene that unfolds below the peak won't depend so much on whether the winds kick up to clear the toxic skies.
Think of Hong Kong as China's New York. Not today's N.Y.C., to be sure, but the Gotham that had hovered on the verge of bankruptcy in the 1970s and then struggled to reinvent itself by deregulating its two stock markets and becoming the world's leading financial center at the dawn of the digital age. Now China is the growth engine, and the transformation underway entails providing the financial savvy, rule-based business culture and global logistical reach that the vast Chinese economy demands but can't create for itself. ''Every economy changes as the major players [in the global arena] change," says Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Henry Tang. ''In the past we have always used China as a manufacturing base, but now we look to it as a market [with] a huge demand for world-class financial services. Hong Kong is where we supply it."
A ''paradigm shift" is underway in the city, Tang says with confidence. And in Hong Kong's case the consulting jargon actually fits, economically as well as politically. Truth be told, Tang and his fellow cabinet bosses are struggling to come to grips with what's happening all around them. Whereas New York confronted urban decay, high crime and tense race relations, Hong Kong's challenges center on today's rich-poor divide, quality-of-life issues such as air pollution and the city's still-unmet yearning for one-person, one-vote democracy.
Indeed, the influence tycoons exert on policymaking is under attack as never before. And the government's management—or, say its critics, mismanagement—of precious waterfronts and green spaces are major concerns among the middle class.
Although opinion polls show that most Hong Kong people support China's national government, Beijing's ham-fisted efforts to manage the city's democracy debate is engendering fear that the motherland could ultimately renege on its pledge to allow Hong Kong ''a high degree of autonomy."
Perhaps most significant, "a dynamic generational shift" is underway, argues former legislator Christine Loh, founder of the influential think tank Civic Exchange. A new and politicized middle class has emerged, one that's well traveled, technologically savvy and committed to more than getting rich. Their issues include the environment, education and protecting Hong Kong's cultural heritage—the common denominator being better official accountability. ''[This generation] presents the tycoons and the government with its next challenge, and it is where [questions over] how our society ought to be run and where our priorities lie will come to a head."
By most accounts Hong Kong is on the mend as it prepares to begin its second decade as a special administrative region of the People's Republic. Back in 1997, euphoria over the gala July 1 handover yielded quickly to an Asia-wide financial crisis that sent stock and property markets tumbling. Then the city sank into political indecisiveness, suffered a deadly SARS outbreak and after a botched 2003 government move to pass a new public-security law, experienced the largest political protests on Chinese soil since the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations in Beijing.
The setbacks cost Hong Kong's first chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, Beijing's confidence and eventually his job (he resigned citing ''health issues" in early 2005). And since then, Tung's successor, the bow-tie-clad Donald Tsang, has renewed public confidence, delivered strong economic growth and vowed ''to break barriers and realize Hong Kong's potential in an ever-changing world," as he said recently.
The clearest evidence of Hong Kong's transformation comes not from official rhetoric but in the city's economic data. Since 1997, market capitalization on the main stock exchange has ballooned almost fivefold to just under $2 trillion, about one sixth the size of the New York Stock Exchange today. Over the past three years, Chinese companies have raised about $84 billion with initial public offerings in Hong Kong, and, according to the accounting firm Ernst & Young, the city's main bourse generated 17 percent of the total capital raised worldwide during the first 11 months of 2006, ahead of London (15 percent) and New York (11 percent). The main driver was the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's $22 billion dual listing, which garnered $16 billion in Hong Kong and $6 billion in Shanghai. This flurry of activity broke an old pattern whereby Chinese companies, fearing a lack of liquidity in Hong Kong, preferred listing simultaneously in either London or New York. ''We have always been successful, but these past few years have really put us on the map," says Tang.
Hong Kong's financial sector now accounts for 13 percent of GDP, up from 10 percent in 1997. And as big as it is, today's IPO boom represents only a part of what Hong Kong's money tribe can offer China.
Consider: the IPO market sends capital into the mainland from outside investors (both Hong Kong Chinese and foreigners). But increasingly, China's main challenge isn't raising funds abroad, but disposing of the enormous pools of money it has amassed by running huge trade surpluses.
Now trapped inside the country's closed financial system, this liquidity is too hot for China's banks and stock exchanges to handle. This year's stock bubbles in Shanghai and Shenzhen, for example, feature extreme volatility, rampant insider trading and price inflation driven by too much money chasing too few good companies.
China's embarrassment of riches represents a huge opportunity for Hong Kong. According to the city's top government economist, K. C. Kwok, Beijing has little choice but to channel ever-larger amounts of financial business Hong Kong's way. One example is a scheme enacted late last year that will allow Chinese banks to invest $75 billion in overseas assets, with much of it expected to land in Hong Kong. Another influx is coming from Chinese multinationals, which are gradually being freed from a longstanding requirement that they repatriate foreign earnings back to the motherland. A third source (and by far the largest) is Chinese households, which together have an estimated $2 trillion in savings squirreled away. ''Imagine you are a mainland Chinese sitting on a pile of money in your bank account," says Kwok. ''You look at all these companies going to Hong Kong to list and you think, 'Why can't I invest there, too?' "
Tourism is another growth sector with promise beyond filling hotel rooms or selling tickets to Hong Kong Disneyland. Since Beijing permitted its citizens to visit Hong Kong four years ago, not only have they bolstered a local travel industry slammed hard by the SARS epidemic, they've also revived the prospects of Hong Kong's private hospitals. Some had been struggling until Chinese nationals began showing up for everything from heart surgery to maternity care. ''You can't just walk in and get a [hospital] room because Chinese who are rich enough and do not trust their own hospitals are there," says Jimmy Lai, publisher of the Apple Daily and a harsh critic of Beijing. ''If you believe Hong Kong's rule of law, free-flowing information, professionalism and integrity are part of our comparative advantage, you can assume that the more we integrate with China the more our advantages will be manifested." Even the old port is transforming into a modern service industry. From 1995 to 2005, the percentage of Hong Kong's GDP derived from freight transport and storage stagnated; its contribution to the economy rose just a single point, to 4.8 percent, while container traffic to Shanghai and Shenzhen doubled every few years. But in a shift that remains ''off the radar screen" to many analysts, says Kwok, trade and logistics actually rose as a percentage of the city's GDP, from 18 to 23 percent, during the past decade. The new business comes from services that include managing complex supply chains that link Asian factories to American and European consumers, regional product sourcing and third-country trading that doesn't bring products into Hong Kong at all. ''We're seeing the globalization of production," says Kwok. ''And Hong Kong is the nerve center for a lot of these activities."
This shift is tectonic, and it gets to the heart of issues that now fuel much of the political debate in Hong Kong.
Like Japan, Hong Kong pours a staggering amount of concrete—much of it in the service of vested interest. It has spent $3.8 billion a year on capital expenditures since the handover, a figure roughly equal to what India now invests annually on its ambitious national highway program. The bulk has gone into new roads, additional reclamation (some along the scenic downtown waterfront) and campus like facilities built at taxpayer expense to bolster the nascent science and technology industries. Next on the drawing board: a massive government office complex that will occupy the last harborside plot near Hong Kong's postcard central waterfront, as well as a logistics hub, another container port and a massive bridge to Macau all located on Lantau Island, Hong Kong's largest remaining wilderness area.
Such projects are increasingly a tough sell in a city where public opinion is turning decidedly greener and local campaigns to preserve historic areas slated for redevelopment garner substantial middle-class appeal. Pressure groups have formed to demand more parkland, oppose demolition of historical landmarks (like the Star Ferry Terminal in Central, which recently went under the wrecking ball) and limit the height of buildings in certain areas to preserve views and keep breezes flowing. Even the business community has begun to lobby for waterfront redevelopment modeled on successful projects that have revitalized docklands in cities like Melbourne, Barcelona and London. ''It's not that people are against construction," argues Ma Ngok, a political scientist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "They're against [Hong Kong's] development-led ideology."
The opportunity costs of bad policy could be enormous. Hong Kong's environment is already deteriorating rapidly; air pollution, which on average reached hazardous levels every third day in 2006, is now a major deterrent to the professional talent the city needs to maintain its edge in finance and logistics. Last year, in a survey conducted for the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong by A.C. Nielsen, 95 percent of business executives said they worried the city's smog would harm them or their families, and more than half said they knew professionals who had declined work opportunities in Hong Kong because of the city's poor environment. Earlier this year the city took a major PR hit when the Hong Kong Philharmonic's vaunted Dutch conductor, Edo de Waart, abruptly moved his wife and kids to Wisconsin to escape the city's ''terrible" smog.
Hong Kong's have-nots can't vote with their feet. But because they'll someday wield ballots, their lot is a major political issue. Since 1997, working-class incomes have stagnated; unemployment peaked at nearly 10 percent a few years back but has since fallen by more than half, and living costs have risen sharply. Job insecurity is also rife as labor-intensive industries continue their exodus to China. Since 1995, official data show, the percentage of semiskilled workers in the economy has declined by almost a quarter and now accounts for just 16 percent of total employment. That's good news in that it illustrates Hong Kong's climb up the service chain.
But because the government didn't implement compulsory education until 1978, there's a huge demographic of workers now in their 40s and 50s who can't easily be retrained for the information age and who cling to menial jobs paying meager wages. ''I was a bus washer 20 years ago, and I know a woman who cleans buses today," says legislative councilor Leung Kwok-hung, a.k.a. Long Hair, a 51-year-old Marxist political activist who won his seat in 2004. ''Her salary is lower than what I got and her working hours are longer than mine were. It's ridiculous."
Hong Kong's tycoons are famous for their resistance to political change. They never pushed for democracy under British rule, and since the handover they've argued that the city is not yet ready for it, or that universal suffrage would threaten the economy because low-income voters would elect populists promising costly social programs. ''This is their blind spot, their idée fixe, about people who have no money," says Loh. ''They think everyone who is poor wants welfare, and they kind of discount the middle class, which is concerned about aging parents, the state of public health and have kids in good public schools." Loh and other activists say the root of the debate lies in interest-group politics and a business elite that believes ''if we give average people a political say, they're going to upset our apple cart."
The old apple cart is toppling anyway.
Labor-intensive industries are leaving, and no matter how much the government invests in cross-border roads and additional container terminals, Hong Kong's days as the pre-eminent maritime gateway to a vast continental economy are over. As with New York and London, necessity is proving the mother of invention.
To avoid decline, Hong Kong has begun to rethink how best to manage its precious green areas, rescue its historic waterfront from overdevelopment and otherwise enhance itself as a financial center worthy of global attention even as it better addresses the needs of the city's have-nots. Ten years ago such ideas amounted to heresy; now they are central to the political debate. As always, Hong Kong is showing the world it can learn, adapt and stay ahead.
Migrant Workers to Enter China's Legislature
March 15th, 2007China's millions of rural migrant workers will have their own representatives seated in the national people's congress if a draft resolution on lawmaker elections for next year's National People's Congress is approved by legislators at the ongoing 10th NPC annual session.
The draft resolution on deputy election for the 11th NPC has been submitted to lawmakers for deliberation, stipulating that provinces and municipalities with a large population of rural migrant workers should have an NPC deputy quota for them.
Sheng Huaren, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, told about 3,000 legislators that China's migrant labor population has become larger and is growing into one of the mainstays of the country's work force. Sheng says they should have a number of lawmakers to represent their rights and interests.
The draft resolution also proposed an increase of lawmakers from farmers and industrial workers, saying that the NPC deputy numbers from these groups is dropping in recent years.
China has about 200 million migrant workers, of whom more than 120 million work in cities and the remainder work in villages. Official figures show 13 million farmers will become migrant workers each year if China reaches the urbanization target of 56%.
More M.B.A.s From China Seek Employment Back Home
March 14th, 2007By Ronald Alsop
When Zhe Xu receives his M.B.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley this spring, he will hop a plane back to his native China for a job in management consulting rather than seek employment in America.
Just a few years ago, such a career move would have been almost unthinkable. Most students reluctantly returned to China only because they couldn't land a position with a U.S. company that would sponsor them for a work visa.
But Mr. Xu represents a new breed of Chinese M.B.A. student, for whom China's booming economy is proving more alluring than a career in the West. "It is much more exciting right now to be in China, especially in the health-care area," says Mr. Xu, who plans to do life science and health-care consulting in the Shanghai office of Cambridge, Mass.-based Monitor Group. "Many things are changing rapidly, and I can really put my hands on some of the hot buttons and make my own mark on the country's economic development."
While many Chinese students at U.S. business schools still covet a visa that will allow them to work in America, career-service directors say a growing number are much more willing -- even eager -- to return to their homeland after graduation. "International companies have long tried to pitch this idea of going back to China where a student's language and cultural background is of great value to them, but until recently, it fell on deaf ears," says Paul Allaire, career-resource center director at the University at Buffalo School of Management.
Abby Scott, executive director of M.B.A. career services at the Haas School of Business at Berkeley, even sees some Chinese-American students, who were raised and educated in the U.S., moving to China. "They want to be part of all the interesting things happening over there," she says. "The safe way is to get your feet wet by joining a multinational, but a few gutsy students are trying to start something of their own."
At Stanford University, Virginia Roberson, the business school's international career adviser, finds entrepreneurial-minded students especially drawn to China. "It's like the Wild West and the gold rush to them," she says.
Students say they expect ever greater career opportunities and compensation as China's economic expansion rolls on. "I plan to go back to China after my studies because of the high demand for real-estate and infrastructure development," says Patricia Cheung, a first-year M.B.A. student at Berkeley who will be interning this summer at Deutsche Bank's real-estate asset management office in Hong Kong and working extensively in China. "I am passionate and patriotic about China and also feel that it is where I have a comparative advantage both in language and culture. I speak fluent Mandarin, Cantonese and English and have lived or worked in many Asian countries."
Indeed, U.S. and European companies consider many Chinese M.B.A. graduates ideal managers because of their knowledge of languages and business customs. They also have studied the ways of Western companies in business school so they can relate well to their employer's management style.
"Chinese students are more valuable back in their home country where they can charge a premium for their expertise," says Mark Wilkins, president of Stampede, who last year hired a Chinese graduate from the University at Buffalo to represent the distributor of electronic products in Shenzhen, China. "We needed his knowledge of the country and language because doing business in China is all about relationships."
Johnson & Johnson, which has had business operations in China from more than two decades, also is finding it easier to recruit Chinese nationals and has already hired 13 this school year for its pharmaceutical and medical-device businesses. Irene DeNigris, director of global university recruitment, seeks M.B.A. graduates who have acquired both general-management skills and the ability to work in cross-cultural teams in business school.
"Salaries are much better than five years ago" in China, she says, but she acknowledges that student-loan repayment still poses a financial challenge for some M.B.A. graduates there. J&J and other companies offer bonuses, housing allowances and other incentives to help ease the loan burden.
Some Chinese students still prefer to spend at least a year or two working in the U.S., both to repay some of their education debt from their higher income and to learn about Western business practices firsthand. Zhou Yu, an M.B.A. and computational finance student at Carnegie Mellon University, has accepted a job in fixed-income strategy at Citigroup because he believes some experience in New York should make him "more marketable." But in a few years, he and his wife hope to return to their families in Beijing.
Likewise, Qin Yu, an M.B.A. student at Ohio State University, plans to start with Intel as a senior financial analyst in the U.S. before heading back to China as a manager for the chip maker. "Most major U.S. companies have an operation in China now, so going back to China is not so bad," he says. "But before I go, I need to work in America to better understand the business culture. Academic experience alone is not sufficient."
China's Talent Wars
March 10th, 2007By Benjamin Robertson
Chinese graduates are facing their first employment crunch in 30 years, but employers aren’t rejoicing. Despite the apparent abundance of labor, there is a paradox: Companies often have trouble finding the right candidate for the job.
Another job fair, another riot.
Such is the demand for college graduate jobs in China these days. Pictures from a recruitment fair in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou showed smashed doors, broken glass and an escalator with sides bent outward at an extraordinary angle. Thirty-thousand eager students surged into the exhibition center in mid-November, overwhelming police, security guards and one hapless escalator as they rushed to be the first to sign up with potential employers.
It was an image that revealed the desperation of Chinese college graduates facing an employment crunch for the first time since market reforms began in the late 1970s. As more people enter universities than ever before, government figures indicate that 20 percent to 50 percent of this year’s 4.13 million graduates will not find jobs. It’s a situation that shows little sign of abating in the years ahead. A December report from the government-affiliated Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says that next year there will be 25 million urban job seekers chasing 10 million jobs.
"It is now very difficult to find work. There is a strong supply and demand imbalance in the college graduate market," says Liu Hao, CEO of Zhaopin, one of China’s leading recruitment portals. Its services include online recruiting, newspaper recruiting, headhunting and campus recruiting. "Whereas the U.S. job market is cyclical, China has not seen a recession in 20 years."
A generation of college graduates has never seen large-scale layoffs, says Liu, echoing the concerns of senior government leaders, who have worried about potential effects on social stability and have held crisis meetings regarding the issue.
Zhaopin’s Web site is registering an average of 70,000 new job seekers every week. Yet despite the apparent abundance of labor, there is a paradox: Liu says companies often have trouble finding the right candidate for the job. Though China is famed for a large, mobile, hardworking workforce, the 37-year-old CEO suggests the country’s education system is not always producing the right sort of talent.
Many multinationals would agree with him. Despite the record number of graduates, sourcing talent is now the leading concern for American companies in China ahead of intellectual property rights protection, according to an annual members’ survey of the American Chamber of Commerce.
"Employers are looking for someone with practical work experience, leadership ability and creative problem-solving skills," explains Jim Leininger, general manager of Watson Wyatt in Beijing. "The education system is very good at developing quantitative ability but falls short in developing some of the key skills employers are looking for: creative thinking, group problem solving and the ability to apply knowledge to real-life situations."
At the Beijing offices of Microsoft, human resources director Danielle Monaghan concurs. Microsoft often advertises through Zhaopin and has no shortage of applicants. The company often receives 16,000 to 17,000 applications for just 300 places. Monaghan says the company still needs to invest time and money into certain forms of training that would be unnecessary back in the U.S.
"We do have to develop their skills to work in a multinational," she says. "Generally graduates are without strong team-working skills. They don’t take a lot of initiative. They don’t push back or say no, and we have to teach these skills because that is key to survival at Microsoft."
While China is by no means the only country facing a talent shortage, its blistering growth over the past decade makes any shortfall all the more acute. In a 2005 report titled "China’s Looming Talent Shortage," consulting firm McKinsey & Co. predicted the country’s economy would have difficulty moving up the value-added ladder from manufacturing to services if the quality of graduates were not addressed.
Like recruitment portals in the West, Zhaopin provides an online interface for posting job advertisements and résumés. It allows Liu to see exactly where the shortfalls are. High-tech industries like auto and drug manufacturing are especially short of quality candidates, he says.
A step above graduate-level job seekers, midlevel managers in the marketing and finance sectors are also in high demand, Liu says. Zhaopin’s goal is help employers fill these gaps in their hiring process. Using part of a recent capital investment from Australian firm Seek, Zhaopin hopes to upgrade its search algorithms to provide better matches and value for employers and would-be employees alike.
"In the past you [would] put out an ad and get a hundred résumés and you would be happy. But now we realize that only a small percentage would be qualified," Liu says.
Another solution to the lack of graduate talent is company training. But while larger multinationals have well-established training programs, smaller foreign companies and their Chinese counterparts are just beginning to invest in the sort of team bonding and leadership exercises that are common practice in the West. In a survey of 558 multinationals in Mainland China, Watson Wyatt found that the average annual cost of training per employee is only $200.
Though puny, the investment reflects a change in corporate thinking, Liu says.
"The standard HR managers in this market were guys who pay salaries and hire and fire people. Now, more and more companies claim they realize human capital is the most important form of capital," he says.
Spotting an opportunity for expansion, Zhaopin has begun company training programs. Clients so far include a municipal government tax bureau and various state power companies.
But a limited length of job tenure can offset such investment. Because talent is in short supply, employee poaching is rife within industries.
"In the U.S., the average length of time someone stays in a job is five to six years. In this market it is two years," Liu says. Figures from Watson Wyatt say annual employee turnover at multinationals is 14.3 percent, and because employers are desperate to find and retain talent, annual salary increases now average 7.8 percent, noticeably higher than the 1 percent to 2 percent rate of inflation.
Despite their exposure to the dynamics of the human resource market, Zhaopin has not been immune from high turnover. At one point, its sales team was posting 25 percent annual turnover, a frighteningly high proportion that Liu says has since been brought under control.
The key is breaking up office hierarchies by allowing new sales members to chase existing but inactive accounts. Previously, client accounts were the domain of the original contract winner, regardless of whether any recent sales had been made.
One emerging trend among multinational companies is to relocate inland, away from the wealthier and more expensive eastern seaboard. Provincial capitals such as Chengdu, Chongqing, and Nanjing are already booming centers of industry and commerce and should in theory offer large pools of untapped talent.
Liu, whose company also is expanding to cover the country’s provincial capitals, is less sanguine. He says the top talent has migrated to the big cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Top biz zone
March 1st, 2007PUDONG New Area was elected by locals as the most ideal place among 18 local districts and Chongming County for starting a business, according to a recent survey by the Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau.
More than 15 percent of the 23,000 respondents said that they would choose Pudong if they were to open a company in the city, followed by Nanhui, Huangpu and Xuhui districts.
'Tis the season of new jobs
February 27th, 2007ALMOST 40 percent of office workers in China are planning to land a new job after the Spring Festival holiday, according to a key human resources survey.
ChinaHR.com, one of the leading Web-based headhunters in the country, asked more than 700 white-collar workers, mostly in Shanghai, in 15 different industries, via the Internet about their career plans for the Chinese Lunar New Year.
More than 37 percent of people surveyed said they had resigned from their previous job, and were planning to work for a new boss after the Spring Festival break.
Most of those planning to change jobs are ordinary to mid-level employees aged between 25 and 35. Only 2.6 percent of decision-makers plan to change jobs, according to the survey.
Terry Ouyang, director of ChinaHR's human resources research center, said the high turnover rate reflected the conflict between young white-collar workers' career-development demands and employers' staff-retention targets.
"People aged between 25 and 35 are undergoing the highest career-progress pressure, especially in high-tech companies." Ouyang said.
"A strong wish for achievement motivates them to change jobs if they see no development prospects in their present positions."
The week-long Spring Festival holiday seems to motivate people to focus on careers and ponder their options, as nearly 21 percent of survey respondents listed "mapping out new year career plan" as their most important task during the break.
Michael Shen, a local sales manager, said the traditional concept of "new year embraces a new beginning" also pushed the decision-making along.
ChinaHR's human resources analysts estimated that the large-scale job-changing peak will come in mid-March.
The survey also suggested that more than 41 percent of HR managers are taking measures to head off the effects of any impending staff losses.
Twenty-two percent of HR managers said they plan to recruit staff after the festival. Another 20 percent are offering additional training, or strengthening communication with their staff.
Demand Soars for China-Specific Finance Talent
February 23rd, 2007By Meta L. Levin 2007.1.23 Wall Street Journal
When Bernie Fung returned to Hong Kong 14 years ago, he secured a front row seat for the fastpaced economic transformation of the People’s Republic of China.
A HongKong Native who spent 20 years working and studying in Canada and the U.S., Mr. Fung is now CEO of AON Asia, a risk management consultancy, and finds himself competing for the limited pool of financial professionals who have expertise and experience of working in and with China. "It's a challenge to find the right talent," he says.
The rapid pace of economic growth is making China one of the hottest financial recruitment markets in the world. And multinational companies seeking to enter China are looking to hire candidates with skills that allow them to work in, and advise on, this complex market.
Companies arriving in china on the tide of foreign investment need accountants, auditors and financial managers who understand the market and are familiar with the variances between cities, provinces and regions. Demand is also high for English speakers, those with overseas and management experience, as well as familiarity with working in a multinational corporate environment and with new product sales, says Thomas Zhou, partner and co-founder of DaCare Executive Search, which has offices in Beijing and Shanghai.
"Native (Chinese) understand the culture, the policies and, most important, they have network connections with local government and companies," says Sherry Liu, a Beijing native, now based in Milwaukee, who has lived in the U.S. for 22 years and operates SimChain Global Logistics LLC, and outsourcing company in China. Like most, she believes that the best picks are the "haigui," Chinese who studied abroad and know the international game rules.
That, however, is one of the biggest challenges, and recruiters like Guy Day, managing director of Ambition Asia, an accounting and finance recruiting firm in Hong Kong, struggle to find enough Mandarin-speaking candidates who hold a U.S. Certified Public Accountant, British Certified Practical Accountant or similar certification from other countries.
Chinese colleges and universities are turning out an increasing number of entry-level job candidates, but there are few middle and upper-management Chinese with the necessary experience in international commerce, making the competition fierce and salaries rise. "Investment in education didn't start until about 10 years ago, so there is a greater supply of those with little or no experience and the top jobs are going to people from Hong Kong or to non-Asians," says Mr. Day.
It can be difficult, however, for non-Asians to understand the cultural complexities of working in china. "Sometimes a manager coming in from another country will have problems, because he doesn't know how to handle the locals," says Leonard Sarkissian of Milwaukee, Wis., whose company, international Harbor LLC, helps foreign firms through the process of setting up a business in China. He emphasizes the importance of learning to read cultural cues. For instance, Chinese will not say no directly to guests. They may say," it's very difficult," explains Ms. Liu. "There are many ways to show their disagreement, but none of them is no". Foreign managers who don't understand that may find the process frustrating and counterproductive.
Recognizing this, AON Corp., AON Asia's parent company, recently initiated a program to identify Chinese national studying in the U.S., hire them and put them through a training program before sending them back to China to work at either AON's insurance or brokerage offices there.
Those who take internal audit jobs in China must be ready for a lot of travel, and that can make these positions a tough sell, says Mr. Day. "Some of the junior-Level jobs have 90% travel. You are literally living out of a suitcase." Accounting and financial analysis jobs tend to have considerably less. Since many companies have manufacturing facilities in China, it also is important that those looking for jobs understand and be familiar with this environment, Mr. Day says.
Chinese job candidates are becoming more sophisticated. Whereas salary was king for many years, whey now are evaluating employers by career trajectory, training and overseas opportunities, as well as remuneration.
"Candidates have woken up to the fact that working for the right company and having the opportunity to work their way along a clearly defined career path can be worth more than money along," says Mr. Day. While money is still strong attraction, he finds the market maturing as those with financial expertise look for careers and not just jobs, and cast a critical eye on such things as location and travel opportunities. Employees also prefer big name multinational companies, seeing in them more opportunities in the long run.
An increasing number of young Chinese job candidates are looking for companies that will finance their M.B.A. studies, says Mr. Sarkissian. In fact, it has become a part of some corporate retention programs in China. An employer will offer to pay for graduate school in return for a commitment to stay with the company for certain number of years. A lot of Chinese universities also now have partnerships and joint programs with those in the U.S. and Europe. Often a job candidate will ask if the company will pay for an M.B.A. as part of the interview. "It would be the kicker for them," says Mr. Sarkissian.
Language is a big issue. Although Mr.Fung agree English is the international language of business, he believes that finance professionals who want to be successful in China do need to at least be familiar with Putonghua, the official Mandarin dialect spoken in most of the large cities.
"As a hot growth market, more U.S. companies are trying to establish their presence (in china), which does create additional demand for managers who are fully Mandarin-English fluent in both language and culture," says Susan Amy, director of the Career Management Center at the university of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
These is also the issue of Chinese familiarity with Western business culture. "Part of the advice I give is to raise your hand and speak up at meetings," says Corbette Doyle, AON's U.S. –based global chief diversity officer. "That is culturally unacceptable in China." It is Ms. Doyle's job not only to promote diversity in AON's offices around the world, but also to find ways to do business without stepping on cultural toes. She cites as an example a group of Chinese AON employees who founded the "China Desk" within the company. They help AON's U.S. clients who want to go to china, as well as Chinese clients who want to invest in the U.S. "They see it as an opportunity to help the organization and help themselves without raising their hands and saying 'look at me.'" She says.
A reader's toolbox:
For people who buy to let mortgages take care of the rest, the compass bank prefers to offer no deal at all. Usually those who discover card for the first time, get trapped into this mess of mortgages. It is high time we should know that credit cards are meant to be used as vouchers and not vice versa. A secured loan on the other hand, is a different matter altogether.
China: Overseas banks hunt for talent
February 13th, 2007OVERSEAS banks are competing heavily for talented workers in China's mainland this year to exploit their ability to offer a full line of retail services.
Citigroup Inc will add another 1,000 employees to its China payroll in 2007, boosting its domestic staff to 4,000, the company said.
In a single week in January, Citigroup opened three new consumer outlets, in Beijing, Tianjin and Shenzhen, as it continued to expand its network in key Chinese cities.
The world's biggest financial group now has 16 consumer operations and six corporate investment banking branches in the mainland.
"Given the importance, size and scale of China, Citigroup is taking a comprehensive approach to our expansion in China, and organic growth remains a key priority," Richard Stanley, chief executive officer of Citigroup China, said earlier.
The Bank of East Asia, whose net income rose to a record last year, will increase its mainland workforce by a quarter this year in a bid to boost profits from the market by more than 25 percent, Bloomberg News reported yesterday, citing Chairman David Li.
The Hong Kong-based bank, whose shares have doubled in the past year, will add at least 500 people in the mainland in 2007, Li said.
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp will employ another 1,000 people this year after hiring 1,000 additional workers last year.
The world's big names in financial circles are deepening their roots in the mainland's banking sector by establishing their own networks or teaming up with local counterparts as strategic investors.
They are vying for a slice of the country's US$1.9 trillion in household savings.
China's mainland allowed overseas banks to offer a full array of yuan services in December, a commitment required under its membership to the World Trade Organization.
A PricewaterhouseCoopers report in late 2005 forecast that overseas banks will employ more than 16,900 workers in the mainland by 2008, up from 6,654 at the time.
Job Fair for Foreigners, April 14,Beijing 2007
January 30th, 2007The Job Fair for foreigners, to be held in Beijing on April 14, 2007, is in its planning stage. This year¡¯s Job Fair was held in the Swissotel Beijing (HongKong Macau Center) and plans are underway to reserve the hotel again for next year¡¯s fair.
Chinajob.com, as the host of the first four job fairs, will continue to sponsor the fifth event especially for foreign teachers and professionals in April. More than 60 educational organizations and companies from all across China and several hundred foreign teachers and professionals are expected to attend the event. Job seekers and employers will be able to have direct talks with each other and the job offer packages of the employers will be ¡°on the table¡± for both employers and employees to study and discuss and even sign contracts. Of course, Chinajob.com will be available at the fair to answer questions about regulations and laws for foreigners in China.
The year 2007 will also find Chinajob.com recruiting for teachers to attend classes on ¡°2007 TEFL in China Certificate Training¡± in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. Foreigners who are teachers in China and who are interested in teaching English are the primary students. Teachers with more than five years¡¯ teaching experience in China will be recruited for the job of instructing other foreign teachers on how to teach English in Chinese schools and universities.
The Chinajob.com Job Fair for Foreigners is the place for you if you are looking for a position or thinking about changing your career goals during your stay in China.
This Job Fair for Foreigners 2007 is supported by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.
Contact: Eric Liu
E-mail: jobfair@safea.gov.cn
Tel. 010-6846 8025 68948899 ext. 50246
Fax. 010-6846 8006
Multinationals can learn from Chinese companies
January 24th, 2007Multinational companies hoping to stay out front in China should start by understanding the workings of the nation's economic growth engine.
Many Chinese companies have grown at such an astounding pace that observers have wondered how so much change is possible in so little time.
It is the "Chinese Miracle" all right, but its roots lie in Japan and South Korea.
The nation began its quantum economic leap by borrowing a three-phase strategy first used in Japan and South Korea: They established local manufacturing, often for low-cost sourcing to multinationals; they acquired know-how and technology through licensing and joint ventures; and they bought assets and brands abroad to secure global positions.
But unlike their regional counterparts, Chinese companies have mostly done away with sequencing, instead condensing three phases into one. It took Japanese and Korean firms on average 25 years to reach global leadership; Chinese companies will achieve this in 10 to 15 years.
Such a shortcut taken by Shanghai Automotive Co Ltd. Started in 1984 as a manufacturer of farm tractors, the company later built its auto manufacturing arm, borrowing innovation through government-negotiated agreements, including those with GM and VW.
It also purchased a stake in South Korea's Ssangyong Motor to blunt challenges from regional rivals. And in 2000, the company bought two models from Britain's Rover Group to sell under its own brand.
Last month the automaker announced it will acquire the joint-venture assets of its parent company, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. The $2.4 billion deal brings all of the company's partnerships under a single umbrella, making it the largest publicly traded carmaker in China.
In addition to compressing their build, borrow and buy phases, companies like Shanghai Automotive move ahead by harnessing the innovation and energy common to most start-ups, combined with the centralized, coordinated planning of nationwide turnaround projects.
We call this the "start-around" approach, one which has helped key players in China quickly overcome weaknesses and adapt to market changes.
Another reason Chinese companies can advance so quicklyis that they typically start off targeting the low-cost, lower-quality segment, where the high volumes make up for small margins.
These volumes put companies on a fast learning curve, accelerating the growth process and preparing them for the rapidly growing middle market. It's what we call the "good enough" market, the segment of acceptable quality goods at unbeatable prices, and it's a breeding ground for global competitors.
For foreign multinationals, the way to get ahead in China's fast lane is to take advantage of what these companies are missing in their race to secure a global presence. There are three important areas where Chinese companies get stalled.
The most significant is customer loyalty, in terms of both the end consumer and intermediate distributors. Chinese companies historically dealt with fewer distributors, relying instead on mega-retail channels. Customer insight takes time to develop, and global firms have many more years of experience to draw upon.
The battle for talent will also be critical, as firms seek out people with global experience. Multinationals are experienced in developing strong leadership, and will rely on their best-in-class programs for recruiting, developing and deploying management.
Then there's innovation. Corporations today are unlikely to repeat this mistake. Constant innovation and compressed product cycles will characterize Chinese and multinational firms alike.
Not only development phases, but various industries and sectors will be integrated: One day soon, R&D will converge across cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food industries.
Emulation will become progressively more difficult; Chinese companies may find themselves continually playing catch-up.
In the end, however, it's important to remember that the race will be won by those who endure the longest. Here, China has another advantage: The centuries have taught its people to be patient. With their emphasis on quarterly earnings, today's multinationals may have yet another lesson to learn from China's companies: the idea of thinking forward in decades.
Steve Ellis is worldwide managing director of Bain & Co. Orit Gadiesh is Bain's chairman and Paul DiPaola heads Bain's Shanghai office.
17 firms are targeted in fund misuse probe
January 8th, 2007CHINA'S securities watchdog has begun an investigation into 17 mainland-listed companies that allegedly misappropriated 9.2 billion yuan (US$1.15 billion) in corporate funds and failed to return the money, officials said yesterday.
China's Securities Regulatory Commission had given the firms until the end of 2006 to make good on their debts.
The targeted companies include the Sanjiu Medical & Pharmaceutical Co, China Textile Machinery Co and Hebei Baoshuo Co.
Executives who misappropriated funds in these companies for their own benefit will be prosecuted, a CSRC spokesman said.
Officials working for at least nine of the 17 companies face criminal investigation, the commission said, without identifying the firms.
In all, 36 companies failed to meet the deadline to repay a total 14.6 billion yuan in misappropriated funds. But the other 19 companies have developed plans to recover the money and won't face further sanctions.
Last year, 402 companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges recovered 33.57 billion yuan that had been misappropriated by their controlling shareholders, authorities said.
The recovery campaign was aimed at improving the quality of the country's 1,400 listed companies and safeguarding the interests of shareholders.
The misappropriation of large sums by controlling shareholders has long been a major problem afflicting China's stock markets, officials acknowledged.
"It is a huge obstacle to the sound development of a listed company," a commission spokesperson said.
As a result, some companies that should have enjoyed good earnings were hampered by cash-flow problems after their funds were siphoned off, the watchdog said.
On October 19, 2005, the State Council approved guidelines drafted by the regulatory commission that required controlling shareholders to return all the money they had misappropriated by the end of 2006.
In October last year, the commission also reiterated that corporate executives who misused funds must make a choice between returning the money or facing legal action.
In a related move, China's prosecutors on Saturday vowed to intensify their crackdown on corruption, dereliction of duty and major economic crimes, Xinhua news agency reported.
"The prosecutorial organs are improving their efficiency in dealing with major corruption cases and have punished a large number of government officials," said Jia Chunwang, procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
In the last two months of the year, China's prosecutors investigated 32,369 cases involving 38,457 officials who were accused of taking bribes or dereliction of duty. More than 17,440 cases involved large amounts of money, and 2,632 officials above the county-chief level were prosecuted or otherwise punished.
Find work for workers
January 5th, 2007More emphasis should be attached to the establishment of a long-term employment assistance mechanism, according to a commentary in Workers' Daily. An excerpt follows:
Employment is the base of people's livelihood. It is gratifying to see that Northeast China's Liaoning Province recently carried out an employment relief act to help completely unemployed families.
In early 2005, the Liaoning government decided that there should be at least one person employed for every urban family in need of work. A total of 175,000 people from 143,000 families had new jobs by the end of that year. Another 34,000 families benefited from this project in the first 10 months of 2006. Now a balance has been sustained and the number of "zero-employment families" is zero. A long-term employment relief mechanism has been established. A report in People's Daily points out that the local government has done a good down-to-earth job.
Various activities have aimed to help ordinary people nationwide in recent years, including many long-term relief mechanisms. Liaoning's "zero-employment family" relief work is a typical example.
As the reform of enterprises deepens and labor relations adjust, some urban families are facing difficulties. Employment and re-employment have become the biggest issue for them. This is especially true as some laborers age, have no skills, or are in poor health. In some families both husband and wife have lost their jobs. Under such circumstances, it is extremely important to help them to get a job.
When completing the social security system including pension insurance, unemployment insurance and minimum-standard living insurance, governments at all levels should not forget building a long-term mechanism to promote employment. A job is always better than one-time financial relief. It would solve the problem at the root and show the government's responsibility to concentrate on employment, activate all resources, carry out favorable policies and enable laborers to support themselves legally.
China:70% target for unions in foreign companies
January 5th, 2007The All-China Federation of Trade Unions has set an ambitious target of having trade unions set up in more than 70 per cent of foreign-funded enterprises this year.
Wang Ying, an official with the federation's Grass-Root Organization and Capacity Building Department, said more than 60 per cent of foreign-funded firms had set up trade unions by the end of last year, a sharp increase from 2005.
The establishment of unions in Wal-Mart has given a big impetus to many other foreign enterprises, Wang said.
Employees in some multinationals such as Carrefour, McDonald's, Motorola and Nescafe soon followed suit.
Between July and September, all the 64 Wal-Mart stores in 30 cities established trade unions with the help of the federation, recruiting more than 6,000 members.
It is for the first time the US retail giant allowed its staff to form unions anywhere in the world.
"China's Law of Trade Union gives workers the rights to set up or join trade unions," Wang said. "Foreign enterprises must abide by China's laws if they do business in China."
According to the law, which was promulgated in 1992, trade unions are formed by employees on a voluntary basis. No organization or individual shall obstruct or restrict them from joining unions.
Wang admitted the federation has met with resistance from some companies, which subtly obstruct workers from setting up unions.
"Many of the foreign enterprises do not fully understand the role of China's trade unions," Wang said.
They not only safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of workers but also contribute to the enterprises' development and fulfil their production tasks, he pointed out.
"Trade unions can play a good role in building and ensuring harmony in enterprises," Wang said, saying some companies which were long opposed to unions have now changed their attitude.
Wang said unions in foreign enterprises have performed their duties.
For example, the Wal-Mart unions in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province, succeeded in persuading the management to raise part-time workers' wages to 6 yuan (75 cents) per hour, above the lowest wage standard, 5.5 yuan (69 cents).
The stores also agreed to abolish the probation period for part-time workers.
The Wal-Mart union in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province, successfully negotiated the right one day off a week.
Dong Yuguo, a spokesman for Wal-Mart (China), said: "The management and the trade union have been getting along with each other very well," Dong said.
"Our task is to raise workers' awareness and let them know that joining trade unions is the best way to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests," Wang said.
At the end of 2005, China had 1.174 million grass-root trade unions, with 151 million members.
Broker rises from ashes of bankruptcy
January 2nd, 2007DATON Securities Co has resurrected itself from bankruptcy and is searching for talent in its quest to move into the sector's first tier, industry sources said yesterday.
The Liaoning-based broker, China's first securities firm to revamp via bankruptcy, is recruiting a general manager and
four deputy general managers, according to people familiar with the situation.
The broker has received several dozen applications and may start interviews with candidates early next year, the sources said.
Daton re-registered recently with 500 million yuan (US$63.9 million) in capital after going bankrupt in August as part of a regulatory edict to reform troubled securities houses, the sources said.
The broker, which was set up in July 2001 with 1.12 billion yuan in registered capital, logged a loss of 133 million yuan in 2005, extending combined losses since it began operations to 1.11 billion yuan, the sources said.
Regulators decided to let Daton go bankrupt to facilitate its overhaul, they said. Original shareholders, including Beida Jade Bird Group, quit during the reform process, while new investors including Dalian Huaxin Trust & Investment Co have joined in, the sources said.
"Huaxin is now the broker's biggest stakeholder, but Daton's overall shareholding structure is still very fragmented," said a source close to the company.
After the restructuring, Daton has net assets of 505 million yuan and net capital of 445 million yuan, which still lags a threshold of 1.2 billion yuan required by regulators to become one of the country's top-tier brokers, according to the sources.
Hong Kong jobless rate falls to lowest in almost six years
December 20th, 2006HONG Kong's jobless rate fell for a fifth straight month in November to the lowest in almost six years, helping sustain the longest economic expansion in a decade, the government said yesterday.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the three months ended November declined to 4.4 percent from 4.5 percent in October, the government said on its Website. That was the lowest since January 2001 and matched the median estimate of 13 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Banks, transport companies and retailers have stepped up hiring as the special administrative region piggybacked on booming growth on the Chinese mainland. Rising wages, and soaring stock and property prices are underpinning consumer confidence, helping Hong Kong withstand a slowdown in the United States economy.
"This reflects the healthy expansion in Hong Kong that has translated into the labor market," said David Cohen, an economist at Action Economics in Singapore. "It should be supportive to consumer spending."
Total employment jumped by 12,900 from a month earlier to a record 3.51 million. The number of unemployed slipped by 7,200 to 161,700, the lowest in more than five years, the report said.
The Brunswick Purchasing Mangers' Index, a gauge of economic activity in Hong Kong, climbed to 56.3 in November, the highest in three years. The index of employment rose to an eight-month high of 54.3, suggesting companies may step up hiring in coming months.
A tighter labor market has forced employers to raise salaries to keep workers and attract new ones. Wages rose 3.3 percent in the third quarter - an increase that may start to feed into inflation, economists said.
"Labor costs may push prices higher in the next two years," said Vivian Chiu, an economist at UBS AG in Hong Kong. Still, inflation "isn't a big crisis at the moment."
Hong Kong's consumer prices climbed one percent last year, the first annual increase since 1998. The government forecasts inflation will accelerate to two percent this year.
On November 21, the government raised its forecast for economic growth this year to 6.5 percent from as much as five percent previously, partly because of rising domestic demand. The economy expanded 6.8 percent in the third quarter.
The city has created about 311,000 new jobs since unemployment peaked at 8.6 percent in July 2003, the government estimates. The benchmark Hang Seng index almost doubled in the same period, breaking 19,000 for the first time last month.
As a result, residents are spending more on everything from clothes to transport. Sa Sa International Ltd, Hong Kong's biggest cosmetics retailer, on November 30 said first-half profit climbed 11 percent as sales jumped.
Interviews to pick future teachers
November 23rd, 2006East China Normal University will begin recruiting education majors next year based on personal interviews instead of scores on the national college entrance exam in order to train students who really want to become teachers, school officials said yesterday.
The university will recruit 200 students next year using the pilot admission plan, making it the third university in the city to accept students without looking at exam scores, following Fudan and Jiao Tong.
High school graduates who are interested in teaching jobs are eligible to apply for the teacher training courses.
Applicants will be selected on the basis of interviews to see if they have the communication skills and other abilities to become a good teacher.
"Our point is to make sure that we put the most elite and suitable professionals into elementary education positions," ECNU President Yu Lizhong said at the Second International Forum on Teacher Education yesterday.
The country's existing teacher enrollment relies solely on national college entrance exam scores. That system encourages many students who did well on the exam but aren't interested in becoming teachers to enroll in education programs, said Wang Jianpan, an ECNU professor.
The school said a large number of education students apply to change their major at the end of the first year, and many graduates end up taking office jobs instead of teaching positions.
"The loss of trained education majors is a punch to the country's teacher quality," Yu said.
Skilled labor shortage in China
November 3rd, 2006U.S. companies in China continue to make some nice profits, but they are increasingly finding that it's difficult to staff their operations there with qualified workers. Ruth Kirchner reports.
SCOTT JAGOW: U.S. companies in China have a staffing problem: They can't find the right people to work for them. Ruth Kirchner reports from Beijing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RUTH KIRCHNER: For the first time in five years, the skills shortage has emerged as the No. 1 headache for companies doing business in China.
The American Chamber of Commerce says recruiting and retaining capable Chinese managers has become a real problem. Even finding suitable entry-level staff is difficult.
Most experts put the blame squarely on the Chinese education system which does not teach independent thinking or real-world skills.
Andrew Grant of McKinsey says China's university system needs a radical overhaul .
ANDREW GRANT: "A lot of learning is very individual in the Chinese system. There's not a lot of learning in teams, which again is much more akin to real life and what we particularly see in business where you're solving problems in teams".
Grant says the universities churn out millions of graduates every year, but only a tiny fraction has the skills to work for international companies.
In Beijing, I'm Ruth Kirchner for Marketplace.
Most migrant workers find cities friendly
November 1st, 2006According to the ¡°Report on Migrant Workers¡¯ Life in Cities¡± by National Statistics Bureau, more than 70% of them find cities friendly, and over 50% want to stay.
Over 40% of migrant workers believe their working conditions are improving. About 40% find life in cities expensive, and their lack of training adds to their difficulties. Nearly 20% wish to enjoy social security benefits and housing allowances.
The great population shift from rural areas to cities is unavoidable in China¡¯s industrialization and urbanization, and migrant workers (especially migrant industrial workers) play an irreplaceable part in accelerating this process.
Social security guidelines issued in Shanghai
November 1st, 2006SHANGHAI: Scholars and experts welcomed Tuesday a guideline on the management of the city's social security fund as an investigation into abuse that has implicated senior officials and business leaders continues.
They said Shanghai is one of the first cities to demand the fund be put into a special account, as required by top authorities.
In recent weeks, a pension fund scandal has gripped the city and led to the sacking of Shanghai Party chief Chen Liangyu and China's top statistician Qiu Xiaohua.
Shanghai authorities are now investigating Yuan Yonglin, president and deputy chairman of the board of the listed Shanghai Haixin Group.
But an effective supervisory mechanism and transparent management are still needed to eradicate malfeasance and embezzlement, the scholars and experts said.
The guideline, issued during Monday's municipal government meeting, requires the fund to be deposited in an account specially opened for the money, and its income and expenditure should be independent. It also required the fund be used only for specific purposes.
"The proper management and use of social security funds, in defending against all possible risks of abuse, is an extremely important and urgent task," said a statement from the meeting.
China's social security funds have witnessed an average increase of 20 per cent annually over the past years, posing new administrative challenges.
Figures from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security show that by the end of 2005, the total size of the nation's five social insurance funds pension, medical care, work-related injuries, unemployment and pregnancy funds had reached 696.8 billion yuan (US$87 billion).
"Prior to the scandal, which involves the misuse of more than 3 billion yuan (US$380 million) of the city's social security funds, Shanghai had been a model city in terms of management of the fund," Feng Jin, a researcher at Fudan University said yesterday.
"Shanghai has taken some bold steps in the management of the fund totalling roughly 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion), including the guideline issued on Monday," she added.
However, Wang Dewen, an analyst with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said yesterday that a special financial account cannot guarantee the money would not be misused.
"They could make up a false record that shows the money still exists on the account but secretly embezzle it," he said. "The way to fundamentally resolve the problem is to set up an effective monitoring mechanism and require transparent transaction procedures."
But he agreed that Shanghai is heading in the right direction and making positive changes.
According to Xiang Huaicheng, chairman of the National Social Security Fund Council, China's social security fund racked up investment income of 12.14 billion yuan (US$1.52 billion) in the first nine months of 2006, at a yield of 6 per cent.
Thanks to the bullish market in the first half of the year, stock investments contributed 50 per cent of the figure, he said.
Airbus to train Chinese maintenance technicians
October 31st, 2006Oct. 31 - China's Civil Aviation University has signed an agreement with Airbus, the European aircraft maker, on a three-year program to train Chinese maintenance technicians.
The program will start next year and facilities will include a computer-equipped training classroom, a plane installation, and a data room to be completed by 2009, all supported by Airbus.
Airbus will provide training in plane structure, maintenance and repair, according to the memorandum signed here Monday.
The company will also select at least 30 maintenance trainers and send them to Europe for advanced training and technical knowledge after a year.
In the next five years, it was estimated that China would need at least 5,000 maintenance engineers for Airbus aircraft, said Pierre Steffen, vice president of Airbus China in charge of customer service.
"It is the market demand that facilitated this cooperation, forming our training strategy of related Airbus technologies for Chinese maintenance engineers," he said.
He said the Civil Aviation University had a prestigious reputation in the aviation industry. The cooperation would also help Airbus China to recruit prospective graduates.
China signed a deal last week to buy 150 Airbus 320 planes. At the same time, Airbus signed agreements to open a final assembly line in China, its first outside Europe.
Airbus is displaying a scale model of the A380 super-jumbo jet at a major air show which opened Monday afternoon in Zhuhai, a coastal city in south China's Guangdong Province.
Procedures for foreigners working in China
October 27th, 2006Foreigners who want to work in China should first get in touch with a valid Chinese employer who has an employment license for foreigners issued by related labour administrative bureaus.
Foreigners with permission to work in China should apply for employment visas at the Chinese embassies.
Employers of foreigners should get employment permits for their foreign employees within 15 days after their entry into China by providing related documents.
Foreign employees who have received their employment permit should, within 30 days after their entry, apply for a residence permit from local public security bureaus. The term of validity of the residence certificate may be determined in accordance with that of the Employment Permit.
Chinese employers and their foreign employees should conclude a contract in line with law. The term of the contract should not exceed five years and such a contract can be renewed.
The employment permit of the employed foreigners shall cease to be effective upon the expiration of the term of the labour contract between the foreigner and employer.
(Source: Rules for the Administration of Employment of Foreigners)
Shanghai and Beijing lead national living standard
October 18th, 2006A latest evaluation report on social development released by State Statistics Bureau reveals that Shanghai and Beijing take the lead in national living standard in China.
The comprehensive social development index is made by State Statistics Bureau. Twenty-three items that reflect social developments are divided into four parts: population, living condition, social welfare and commonweal service. The average value that reported by local governments is calculated with 1 as the base, which can be used as comparison for social developments in different regions.
Places that have high social development scores are Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian and Liaoning.
The life of China's knowledge wealthy class
October 16th, 2006Chinanews, Beijing, Oct. 16 ¨C There has appeared in Chinese society a new group of people that are termed as the knowledge wealthy class. Most of these people are aged between 25 and 39. They have received a good education and work in IT sector, finance, or the arts. They drive Audi instead of BMW, and put their money for investment instead of buying gold. Most of them like adventures and have little interest in golf.
Such is the way of life for the knowledge wealthy in China. Recently, the Sinomonitor International, a Beijing-based consulting firm, carried out a survey about them. The survey covered more than 10,000 young rich people in 12 cities across China. Compared with 2005, the proportion of the knowledge wealthy has increased by 2 percentage points to account for 45% of the rich people in China. In other words, 45% of the young rich people in China work in industrial sectors that are characterized by new knowledge, new economy and new technologies or in new service sector. A large number of the knowledge wealthy are concentrated in Beijing.
Deputy manager of the Sinomonitor International Liu Rong said the young rich have the following characteristics: they become rich at a very young age; most of them have a good financial background, either because they make good money or because they are born in a wealthy family; and many of them have received a good education and have a strong consumption power.
These people have become the main driving force of consumption. Every year, their family expenditure exceed 100,000 yuan, mostly in buying durable goods or fashion gadgets, dining out, traveling, or maintaining cars. They are willing to search for new information, as 80% of them read newspaper or surf the Internet everyday. In addition, these people advocate new lifestyle. 70% of them think that if they have enough money, they should enjoy life. So most of them travel out of town, go in for physical exercise or visit beauty parlours regularly.
China honors foreign experts with Friendship Awards
October 3rd, 2006Forty nine foreign experts from 19 countries were honored with Friendship Awards Friday in Beijing by the Chinese government for their outstanding contributions to the country.
Vice Premier Hui Liangyu expressed his welcome to all the foreign experts and international friends working in China.
"It's a process of give and take. Talent exchanges benefit all countries involved," said Jan Wolter Post, who was honored for his contribution to China's automobile industry by introducing advanced technology and research on green-fuel automobiles.
China was confident in opening increasingly to the world and invite more foreign experts to work in various domestic sectors, Post said.
The Friendship Award, which was set up in 1991, is the highest award the government confers on foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China's economic and social progress.
"Your professional qualities and dedication have deeply impressed the Chinese people, and your profound friendship with the Chinese people and your valuable contributions to China's modernization will be eternally remembered by the Chinese government and the Chinese people," Hui said.
He said the government would continue to push forward the strategy of reinvigorating China through developing skills and lay equal emphasis on the training and development of domestic talent and introducing international expertise.
A total of 850 foreign experts from 55 countries had been conferred the award by last year.
"My husband got the award in 2003 for his efforts in environment protection," German NGO expert Dorath Lehrach said.
"At that time I thought maybe someday I could be honored this award, and today it comes true," said Lehrach, who assists Chinese NGO development.
According to the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, China introduced 340,000 foreign experts and professionals in 2005, but the country urgently needs senior foreign professionals with innovative, decision-making and management skills.
"We sincerely hope for and welcome the arrival of more foreign experts, overseas Chinese experts and international friends to participate in China's modernization in every way in the future," Hui said.
After the ceremony, Hui, on behalf of Premier Wen Jiabao, invited the experts and their families to attend a grand reception to mark the 57th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, which falls on Saturday.
Source: Xinhua
An Intel Leader Discusses His Lessons in the China Game
October 2nd, 2006Ian Yang, the Beijing-based co-general manager for Asia Pacific for Intel Corp., spends most of his time steering one of the world's biggest tech companies through one of its most exciting -- and complicated -- markets.
When Intel first came to China 21 years ago, the country was a tiny market for the microprocessors and other computer chips Intel makes. But that certainly has changed. While Intel doesn't break down its revenue by country, Asia outside Japan now accounts for half of its total sales. A big part of that is China, the world's second-biggest market for personal computers after the U.S., and the place where most of the laptop PCs sold elsewhere in the world are made.
Mr. Yang, 41 years old, joined Intel in 1986 when he was studying in the U.S. at what is now called Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, as one of its first mainland Chinese employees. He returned to China in the mid-1990s to head up a small sales and marketing team, which helped developing Intel's relationship with a then little-known company called Legend. That company is now called Lenovo Group Ltd., and is the world's third-biggest PC vendor by sales.
Mr. Yang was promoted to country manager in 2000 and rose to his current job helping to oversee sales and marketing throughout the region in July, 2005. He sat down with Wall Street Journal reporter Jason Dean in Beijing to talk about his experience as a global manager.
WSJ: What was your first job and what did you learn from it?
Mr. Yang: My first job was a co-op job [a training job that is part of a college program] at Intel. The first day I reported to work I saw this little sign behind reception that said "The customer is our No. 1 asset." I thought, "Wow." I just came from China and had no concept of this customer orientation. So I thought, well, if I keep doing all the right things for the customer at this company, then I'll probably do OK.
WSJ: What advice would you give someone starting out today who wanted to get into your field?
Mr. Yang: These days, not a lot of students really have any sort of internship or co-op kind of work experience. It'd be great if the education system here could mirror some of the U.S. cooperative programs where college kids could gain some work experience.
WSJ: What's your favorite business book?
Mr. Yang: There are a lot of generic management books. But about six months ago, a book caught my attention called "It's Your Ship" ["It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy," by Michael Abrashoff]. It was written by the former commander of the USS Benfold, a high-tech destroyer in the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
In the Navy they always have this ceremony to send off the old guy and welcome the new guy. At the ceremony, the old guy was booed. [Abrashoff, who taking over,] was totally shocked at how happy the crew was to see the previous guy go. And he said there's no way I want that to happen.
The big concept was that when he talked to everybody, he said "I'm committed as the commander of this ship to do my part to fix it. But as a sailor of this ship, you have as much obligation or responsibility as I do. It's your ship, as well."
WSJ: What is the one thing you wish all new hires knew?
Mr. Yang: I would say, for any new hire, the most important thing is assuming responsibility. That means you have to think out of the box sometimes, and you have to really initiate things rather than just receiving orders. You have to follow your own mind and do your own thinking.
WSJ: It seems like one of the challenges in your position is trying to marry this very distinct corporate culture rooted in America with a distinct business culture and educational culture in China.
Mr. Yang: You're absolutely right. That is the challenge. In the U.S., people tend to think longer term and strategically. They are very open and fast on their feet. I think a lot of time their challenge is in executing in a disciplined way.
In my last 10 years here [in China], my observation is that there are a lot of very hard-working, devoted employees. But they don't very openly share their ideas or thinking. It's not like they don't have it. But if they don't share it, a lot of times people will have the perception that "these people are not strategic."
But if you talk to them in their own language, a lot of times you're surprised about how much they know about the industry, the market, the issues facing the company, and what the company should be doing.
WSJ: What was the most satisfying decision you've made as a manager?
Mr. Yang: [When I first came back], the local computer companies were so small. But some of my customers told me: Watch the consumer electronics market in China.
So I started influencing the management of Intel. I said we've got to put some longer-term strategy behind growing the local guys. I truly believed in it. I said even though these guys are small, if they take off, we can grow with them.
WSJ: Intel recently announced a major global restructuring. What is it important to tell employees at a time like this?
Mr. Yang: We're going through a very turbulent time. I can just feel that people have a lot of questions on their minds. The last thing you want to do is not share anything with them and keep a closed door. Even without a lot of perfect answers, as a manager you have to try to help people understand why we're going through this, calm them down, continue to focus on their jobs, don't get panicked, and we'll get through this as quickly as we can. But six months from now, once Intel has really sorted out its problems and once we get to a level where we are a lot more efficient again and people are a lot more clear on why we're doing this -- here's our strategy, and you guys have every bit as much to do with it as I do -- then you'll look back and say I'm glad Intel did it.
China lures expatriates but success hard: study
October 2nd, 2006China is one of the easiest places for recruiters to lure expatriate executives, but is also one of the hardest places for them to succeed, according to a study released on Tuesday.
A survey of more than 140 international recruiters by executive recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International found other popular places for expatriate workers were Western Europe, especially Britain, and North America, as well as Southeast Asia, especially Singapore.
The firm's 10th quarterly executive recruiter index found that the most difficult places to attract expatriates to work included the non-Gulf Middle East, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and South America.
"High-growth emerging nations often offer the greatest opportunities for expatriates, but they can also come with the most challenges," Chris van Someren, president of Korn/Ferry for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said in a statement.
Reasons that assignments failed included the lack of cultural fit, family or personal issues or a lack of direction from managers, the survey showed.
Things were toughest for expatriates in China, Japan and South Korea, the non-Gulf Middle East, and in Central and Eastern Europe, and South America, the poll found.
But 91 percent of the recruiters surveyed said executives with international experience were either extremely or somewhat desirable candidates.
"Expatriate assignments can be extremely beneficial for developing emerging leaders and for providing solutions for organizations undergoing significant growth or change - but expatriates are clearly not a substitute for local talent," said van Someren.
Recruiters said expatriate programs helped promote better cultural understanding, facilitated the opening of a new branch or office, and were good as a professional development tool.
But expatriate assignments were least effective for addressing local talent shortages, generating new business abroad and improving staff retention.
The poll found the average ideal length for an expatriate posting was about two-and-a-half years.
China to strengthen income tax collection from high earners
September 24th, 2006China's revenue officers are to strengthen the management of income tax collection from people with annual incomes of more than 120,000 yuan (15,000 U.S. dollars), said a senior official with the State Administration of Taxation (SAT).
SAT deputy director Wang Li told a national conference on income tax collection and management that a system should be established to encourage high-income earners to declare personal income voluntarily.
The SAT would concentrate efforts from October and throughout next year on strengthening management and reform of the income tax system and on building a personal income information system to better monitor the actual status of high-income earners.
"There are loopholes in collecting income taxes from this group of people as their sources of income are diverse," said an official with SAT Information Office, who asked to be anonymous.
Personal income tax files should be established and the management of industries with higher revenues should also be highlighted, Wang said.
Meanwhile, he said China's corporate tax revenues rose to 431.6 billion yuan in the first seven months, 29.7 percent or 98.9 billion yuan more than same period last year.
Personal income tax revenues hit 168.4 billion yuan in the period, up 16.4 percent or 23.69 billion yuan, said Wang.
The growth in personal income taxes, introduced by China in 1980, was achieved after the government lifted the personal income tax threshold from 800 to 1,600 yuan a month from Jan. 1.
Source: Xinhua
China more and more attractive to foreign experts
September 24th, 2006When she returned to China after more than a decade away, Dutchwoman Murielle Van de Pol was amazed at the huge changes that had taken place in the country.
She studied at Peking University 12 years ago, and now is back to attend the 2006 Conference on the Exchange of International Professionals which ended here on Thursday.
The changes are so massive that China looks like a completely different country, she told Xinhua excitedly.
Representing the Netherlands Senior Experts (PUM) in China, she hopes to introduce more Dutch experts to China during the conference.
Like Murielle, many foreigners living in China are experiencing the rapid changes taking place in this ancient civilization. The dynamism and energy of China make it an attractive destination for foreign experts.
Piet Hein de Wit, PUM coordinator, comes to China four to five times a year. He said he likes working in China and the people here are very hospitable.
According to Piet, PUM has signed 80 projects agreements with Chinese organizations this year and over the last 12 years about 4,000 Dutch experts have been introduced to China to work on about 1,000 projects.
During the early years of China's reform and opening up in the late 1970s, China only introduced about 1,000 foreign experts and professionals each year. The number has grown to 200,000-400,000 in recent years.
Last year China introduced 340,000 foreign experts and professionals, according to statistics from China's State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA).
SAFEA spokesman Liu Yongzhi said China's rapid economic growth was the key factor in attracting more international talent, and the numbers of foreign professionals introduced to China is not likely to decrease over the next five years.
Pay levels in some companies and universities are now similar or even better than in developed countries, and this is another drawcard, Liu said.
About 700 foreign delegations from 30 countries, including Russia, the United States, Japan and France, attended the conference and 2068 letters of intent were signed.
Source: Xinhua