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
Takashimaya plans Shanghai outlet
May 28th, 2008TAKASHIMAYA Co plans to invest as much as 5 billion yen (US$48 million) to open a department store in Shanghai in its first foray into China, people familiar with the company's plans said.
The 55,000-square-meter outlet may open as soon as 2010 as Japan's third-largest department-store operator seeks to offset a decline in its home market, the three people, who refused to be identified before talks with a Chinese developer are completed, said.
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.
China embraces the fast line
May 26th, 2008CHINA yesterday announced plans to push forward the reshuffle of its telecommunications industry which will split its smaller mobile operator and give its mobile business to two fixed-line operators.
The country has encouraged China Telecommunications Corp to "buy" China United Telecommunications Corp's CDMA (code-division multiple access) network, while China Unicom's GSM (global system for mobile communications operations) will be merged with China Netcom, the Ministry of Industry and Information, the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance said in a joint statement.
The announcement came after China Mobile Communications Corp announced the takeover of fixed-line operator China Tietong Telecommunications Corp on Friday.
China will issue the licenses for third-generation, or 3G, mobile services after the reshuffle is completed, the statement said.
After the revamp, China will have three large telecommunications carriers.
The industry reorganization will cut telecommunication costs, avoid duplicated investment in networks and lift phone penetration nationwide.
It will also fast-track the merger of mobile and fixed-line communications, according to a KGI Securities telecommunications report.
China is seeking to boost competitiveness at fixed-line operators, whose revenue is slowing as more people choose mobile services, Xi Guohua, vice minister of the Ministry of Industrial and Information, said previously.
"The revamp will change the market structure," said Sandy Shen, a Gartner's analyst based in Shanghai. "China Unicom and China Telecom will benefit from it but China Mobile will continue to dominate the market for a period."
It will take 12 to 18 months for the carriers to finish the reorganization and then China will prepare to roll out 3G services, which allow faster video and Web downloads.
China Mobile's 3G trial service made its public debut in Shanghai on April 1 and attracted huge crowds.
Lenovo sees profit more than doubled
May 23rd, 2008LENOVO Group Ltd, the world's No. 4 personal computer maker, announced yesterday its net profit in the first quarter more than doubled as a result of a one-off gain from the sale of its cell phone unit and strong revenue from the Chinese market.
Lenovo posted a net profit of US$140 million between January and March against earnings of US$60 million a year ago. The first quarter net income included a US$65 million gain from selling its money-losing mobile phone business. The result beat expectations of US$129.2 million by analysts polled by Reuters.
The revenue, excluding the mobile handset business, rose 13.5 percent year on year to US$3.7 billion, higher than the 10 percent revenue growth projected by Citigroup's analyst Jim Liang.
"Lenovo continued to demonstrate strong execution of our strategies in the past quarter, achieving the eighth consecutive quarter of profitable growth," Lenovo's chairman Yang Yuanqing said in a statement.
A slowdown in technology spending in the United States is affecting enterprise-oriented PC firms, like Dell Inc and Lenovo, which bought the Thinkpad brand of laptops from IBM. Meanwhile, Lenovo's consumer PC business is also facing pressure from bigger rivals like Hewlett-Packard Co and Acer, which has purchased Gateway.
In China, Lenovo's revenue was US$1.29 billion in the quarter, a jump of 18 percent year on year.
Lenovo is the top sponsor of the coming Beijing Olympic Games and will use the event to launch PCs and laptops that have the Olympic torch design etched on them, Du Ruochao, Lenovo's general manager of East China region, said at a torch bearers' welcome conference in Shanghai yesterday.
Lenovo's share price dropped 2.86 percent to HK$6.45 (92 US cents) yesterday while the Hang Seng Index lost 1.64 percent.
Mainland-Taiwan trade up 21.7% in first four months of 2008
May 22nd, 2008Trade between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan reached 43.91 billion U.S. dollars in the first four months of this year, up 21.7 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Wednesday.
The mainland's exports to Taiwan reached 8.17 billion U.S. dollars and imports from the island reached 35.74 billion U.S. dollars, up 16.9 percent and 22.8 percent, respectively. the MOC's figures showed.
During the same period, the mainland attracted investment from Taiwan in 731 projects, down 36.9 percent, while the actual use ofT aiwan investment reached 650 million U.S. dollars, up 29.6 percent.
As of the end of April 2008, cumulative investment from Taiwan in the mainland totaled 46.41 billion U.S. dollars in 75,877 projects. The figures date back to 1988, when mainland-Taiwan trade opened up.