The mainland’s white-collar job market is bottoming out amid the global economic crisis, with hiring picking up in certain sectors, say experts.
In China, 46 per cent of businesses are hiring, while 50 per cent expect to recruit in the coming quarter and 30 per cent are reducing headcount, although only 19 per cent expect to do so over the next three months, according to a recent survey of 4,217 companies worldwide by international recruitment firm Antal International.
The proportion of firms in China that plan to sack professionals and managers in the next three months, at 19 per cent, is much lower than in India (32 per cent), Singapore (37 per cent), Pakistan (42 per cent) and the Philippines (24 per cent).
China also fared better than the global average percentage of companies that are currently sacking managers and professionals, at 33 per cent, and the global average percentage of firms that plan to sack staff in the next three months, at 35 per cent.
Globally, the percentage of firms that are hiring fell from 54 per cent at the beginning of this year to 46 per cent, and 44 per cent intend to hire in the coming quarter.
The white-collar job market in the United States is worse than in China. In the US, 38 per cent of companies are sacking professionals and managers while 35 per cent plan to do so in the next three months. Meanwhile, 43 per cent are hiring professionals and managers while 34 per cent plan to do so in three months.
“After a substantial dip in hiring at the start of 2009, confidence seems to be returning, at least in part, to the Chinese job market with hiring levels up from 43 per cent to 46 per cent, and organisations expect to recruit at an even faster rate over the next few months. The percentage of organisations shedding staff at the professional level has also dropped from 32 per cent in our last survey to 30 per cent now,” said Sally Li, who runs Antal’s operations on the mainland.
There is a very slow recovery in hiring by multinationals on the mainland, but local firms were hiring robustly at the normal pace before the global financial crisis struck in September last year, said Odilia Poon, China director of Talent2, an Australian-listed human resources firm.
“Things are more stabilised. Whatever multinationals needed to do, they did it in the first quarter with lay-offs and pay cuts. Now, multinationals are waiting for more clear signals from the global economy or their headquarters,” said Ms. Poon.
“Local companies are going along with the domestic turnaround. The Chinese government is trying to maintain 8 per cent [gross domestic product] growth, and so has pushed programmes to boost domestic companies. Local firms are hiring at a normal pace as before the crisis.”
A foreign human resource expert based in Shanghai said: “White-collar hiring is bottoming out in certain sectors in China. Pharmaceuticals is looking really strong at the moment. [But] a lot of manufacturing companies are having it really tough.”
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White-collar job market picking up on mainland
Toh Han Shih
25 May 2009
The mainland’s white-collar job market is bottoming out amid the global economic crisis, with hiring picking up in certain sectors, say experts.
In China, 46 per cent of businesses are hiring, while 50 per cent expect to recruit in the coming quarter and 30 per cent are reducing headcount, although only 19 per cent expect to do so over the next three months, according to a recent survey of 4,217 companies worldwide by international recruitment firm Antal International.
The proportion of firms in China that plan to sack professionals and managers in the next three months, at 19 per cent, is much lower than in India (32 per cent), Singapore (37 per cent), Pakistan (42 per cent) and the Philippines (24 per cent).
China also fared better than the global average percentage of companies that are currently sacking managers and professionals, at 33 per cent, and the global average percentage of firms that plan to sack staff in the next three months, at 35 per cent.
Globally, the percentage of firms that are hiring fell from 54 per cent at the beginning of this year to 46 per cent, and 44 per cent intend to hire in the coming quarter.
The white-collar job market in the United States is worse than in China. In the US, 38 per cent of companies are sacking professionals and managers while 35 per cent plan to do so in the next three months. Meanwhile, 43 per cent are hiring professionals and managers while 34 per cent plan to do so in three months.
“After a substantial dip in hiring at the start of 2009, confidence seems to be returning, at least in part, to the Chinese job market with hiring levels up from 43 per cent to 46 per cent, and organisations expect to recruit at an even faster rate over the next few months. The percentage of organisations shedding staff at the professional level has also dropped from 32 per cent in our last survey to 30 per cent now,” said Sally Li, who runs Antal’s operations on the mainland.
There is a very slow recovery in hiring by multinationals on the mainland, but local firms were hiring robustly at the normal pace before the global financial crisis struck in September last year, said Odilia Poon, China director of Talent2, an Australian-listed human resources firm.
“Things are more stabilised. Whatever multinationals needed to do, they did it in the first quarter with lay-offs and pay cuts. Now, multinationals are waiting for more clear signals from the global economy or their headquarters,” said Ms. Poon.
“Local companies are going along with the domestic turnaround. The Chinese government is trying to maintain 8 per cent [gross domestic product] growth, and so has pushed programmes to boost domestic companies. Local firms are hiring at a normal pace as before the crisis.”
A foreign human resource expert based in Shanghai said: “White-collar hiring is bottoming out in certain sectors in China. Pharmaceuticals is looking really strong at the moment. [But] a lot of manufacturing companies are having it really tough.”
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