Recruiting in China

The recent Asian sensation and economic explosion has sent citizens of China and South Korea to working tirelessly in mastering the English language. This is the new Asian fascination. English is not just a new way of communicating or status symbol; it is a guaranteed competitive advantage for the young and savvy Asian in a recently overly exposed society with “super power” intentions.

Not surprisingly, the English sector of the language industry is one of the most profitable in China and South Korea. Asian schools are bustling and working relentlessly to aggressively recruit native English speakers to teach English in their countries.

“Westerners” are enthralled by these job opportunities because it gives them the opportunity to explore Asia, a part of the world that until now has remained a mystery for many. These positions are quite seductive because it allows English speakers to save a large percentage of their salaries, and indulge in a new cultural adventure while learning a new language and meeting some great people along the way. These jobs come with a furnished apartment, a round trip ticket, severance pay, free language classes and medical insurance. Some employers will even provide three meals per day, a cell phone and a sign on bonus. Teachers are not required to have previous teaching experience; they are however required to have a Bachelors degree which can be in any concentration.

Xandria Hendricks, co-founder of Allestra Recruiting, Inc., a Florida based recruiting firm specializes in recruiting Teachers for the Asian market, has confirmed that this is a vibrant market. She stated that “the recent attention on Asia has resulted in an equally overwhelming demand from individuals who want to go to Asia and Asian institutions that are eagerly recruiting to fill positions both in China and South Korea. Allestra Recruiting has partnered with several Asian companies to place English speakers into jobs in both China and South Korea. Allestra’s partners include Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Games official language training services supplier.

To contact Allestra Recruiting, Inc., e-mail Admin@Allestrarecruiting.com. For more information, visit the Web site at www.Allestrarecruiting.com.

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Professional Free Press Release News Wire

Higher costs and new labour laws are forcing plants in Guangdong to close or relocate farther inland, leaving previously bustling factory compounds empty like ghost towns with little investment interest or prospective buyers.

At its height, the Changdeng Shoe Company employed 7,000 workers in the eastern district of Dongguan, a manufacturing centre in China's southern Guangdong province. Today the company's factory compound is a ghost town, populated by only a few dozen bored security guards, ground keepers and technical personnel overseeing the dismemberment of its assembly lines.

In a communal area surrounded by Changdeng's abandoned worker dormitories, a beauty salon, table-tennis room and medical clinic have been stripped bare. A notice for an auction, held last December, invites anyone interested in the factory's five cars to come and bid.

"The Taiwan boss was in his 70s and wanted to get out of the business," said Pang Wei, as he gave the Financial Times a tour of the compound. "He has gone back to Taiwan."

Mr Pang, an entrepreneur based in the nearby provincial capital of Guangzhou, paid Rmb10m (EUR943,000) for Changdeng's capital equipment and is re-selling it to other manufacturers. At the factory, technicians supervised the removal of sewing tables and other machinery from upper floors to ground level, for easier inspection by potential buyers.

Equipment is not the only thing to have been scavenged at Changdeng. "Most of the workers here were hired by other factories in the area," says Chen Qingwen, who also runs a business selling shoe manufacturing equipment. "They were very happy to take them."

Basic monthly salaries have doubled

According to Zhang Huarong, chairman of both the Asia Footwear Association and the Huajian group, one of China's largest shoe companies, basic monthly salaries in the industry have doubled to $200 since 2006.

However, the difficulties encountered by Changdeng and thousands of other factories across the Pearl River Delta, where Guangdong's manufacturing industries are concentrated, do not suggest that China's export engine is facing crisis. Guangdong's exports grew 22.3 per cent to $369.3bn last year, accounting for 30 per cent of the national total.

The indistrial struggle in Guangdong has been compared to survival of the fittestWhat is happening is a survival-of-the-fittest struggle affecting primarily smaller factories in relatively low-tech, labour-intensive industries. In other cases, companies are redistributing some lower value, less time-sensitive tasks to new production facilities in cheaper inland areas. Reflecting China's resilience, in January the country's national trade surplus surged 23 per cent year on year to $19.5bn.

Large factories that have shifted some of their operations to China's interior, as Huajian has done, usually retain sizeable facilities in Guangdong, which are better at turning around higher value orders with shorter lead times. "I never think about closing our factories in Dongguan," Mr Zhang said. "We want to upgrade them by focusing more on research and development, new fabrics and new manufacturing techniques."

Mr Pang's buyers provide a glimpse into the industrial migration that is occurring as higher costs take their toll on factories such as Changdeng. One of them, Chi Shiqing, runs a small, 300-worker shoe factory in Shaoguan, a city in northern Guangdong near the border with Hunan province.

Another factor behind recent company closures in Guangdong has been the implementation of a new contract labour law"It's not easy to get workers in Shaoguan either," Mr Chi says. "Nobody wants to move there so I have to hire the locals."

He adds: "Wages in Shaoguan are not much lower than those in Dongguan now."His workers earn Rmb1,200 ($170) a month.

Mr Chi can take some comfort from the fact that he manufactures for the domestic market only. That means he is not exposed to another key cost pressure - the rising value of the renminbi, which has appreciated about 15 per cent against the dollar since mid-2005.

Another factor behind recent company closures in Guangdong has been the implementation of China's new contract labour law. By closing before January 1, factory owners could avoid having to pay higher compensation costs mandated by the new law.

Changdeng at least did the right thing, folding up its operations in an orderly manner and in compliance with Chinese law before the end of 2007. According to local media reports, the company paid some Rmb40m in worker compensation.

Across town, Lu Yongyuan, a 32-year-old migrant labourer from Guizhou province, was not so lucky. The Taiwanese head of his company, Dongguan Hongsheng Mould Factory, simply absconded. The factory's 300 workers returned from the traditional Chinese New Year holiday to find the factory gates locked and their salaries unpaid.

"Most of us found out on February 14," said Mr Lu, who had worked for Hong-sheng for 10 years. "The government will auction the assets. Costs were just too high."

A notice posted on Hongsheng's gate instructs workers to contact the local village government office to collect one month's basic salary. Under the new contract labour law, Mr Lu should have received the equivalent of 10 months' wages in compensation.

Recruitment 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.”

OmniaLuo, Inc. ("OmniaLuo" or the "Company") (OTCBB: OLOU), a China-based company engaged in the business of designing, developing, marketing and distributing fine women's apparel under the brand name OMNIALUO, announced today that it will attend the 16th annual China International Clothing and Accessories Fair ("CHIC 2008") in Beijing from March 28 - 31, 2008. CHIC 2008 is the largest international trade show in China and second largest in the world, attracting more than 120,000 visitors from around the globe. The Company will exhibit its new summer line, recruit new distributors and gain international exposure for the OMNIALUO brand.

"As part of our domestic expansion strategy, attendance at CHIC 2008 presents a tremendous opportunity for us to recruit prospective distributors and move closer to our goal of more than 250 retail stores," stated Cindy Luo, OmniaLuo Chairwoman and CEO. "We anticipate recruiting at least 10-15 new distributors, contributing up to 10% of total 2008 revenue," added Ms. Luo.

Hong 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.

BEIJING (MarketWatch) -- Barclays PLC (BCS:32.27, -2.66, -7.6%) plans to add capital and staff to its China operations, the state-run China Daily reported Thursday, citing bank President Robert Diamond.

Additionally, Barclays is seeking opportunities in China's retail and commercial banking sector, but local regulations have limited the bank's efforts, Diamond was quoted as saying.

China's regulations limits a single foreign institution's stake in local banks to 20%.

"We would like to be an active investor rather than a minor stakeholder," Diamond told the newspaper.

The report didn't give details of the bank's plans to boost staffing and capital.