At the end of January and the beginning of February of every year,
the most important task for many enterprises is to attract new
employees. As soon as the Spring Festival draws to its end,
employers start speeding up the pace in seeking suitable employees;
at the same time, many people kick off their job-hunting journeys.
Once again, the job market is hot. Every indication shows four
major trends in this year's job market.
Trend 1. Employment an urgent issue in China; experts in finance in
high demand
The number of people employed in China will increase by about 10
million this year, according to Li Zhen, vice researcher with the
Economic and Social Development Unit at the Institute of
Macro-economy of the State Development Planning Commission. At the
same time, because of the restructuring of many institutes, the
number of laid-off workers across the whole nation will reach 6.5
million. Further, the number of personnel who won't be rehired by
an institution or company after their contracts expire will be 1
million. So, the employment situation in the Chinese job market is
still very serious. Meanwhile, the statistic provided by the
Beijing Labor and Social Security Bureau shows a 51.78 percent rise
from the previous year in unemployment in Beijing, which this year
will see 260,000 unemployed.
Tackling the employment issue becomes more urgent in the wake of
China's entry to the WTO, according to a report issued by the
Development Research Center of the State Council, which sees with
WTO entry an increase in unemployment as well as striking conflicts
between market-demand and the number of qualified candidates. In
terms of different regions and ownership, very serious unemployment
from the beginning of this year is predicted for old industrial
bases, small cities in the middle and west part of China, and
state-owned enterprises. So far, China is challenged by pressures
from its total general population, its total underemployed
population and its total elderly population. Among these pressures,
the easing of the underemployed is most urgent because it is
expected that the total number of unemployed will reach a peak in
the coming two years.
Meanwhile, still in demand in China are high-tech talents, talents
informed about WTO rules and senior management, and the qualified
personnel experienced in law, according to some experts' analysis.
Judging from this year's situation, the financial experts will be
most in demand. According to statistics by the People's Bank of
China, by the end of last September, the number of China-based
foreign banks had reached 190. In Beijing, 18 foreign-funded banks
have set up branches, and the number of Beijing-based
representative offices attached to foreign-funded banks has reached
108. An expert from Asia Bank predicted that in the coming several
years, foreign-funded banks will take up at least a 30 percent
share in China's market.
Wang Yuanlong, a researcher with the Institute of International
Finance of the Bank of China, indicates that following China's
entry into WTO, financial experts will be even more in demand, with
an inevitable trend of employees' leaving state-owned banks. As
with the banking industry, the insurance industry is also in
desperate need of finance talents. According to sources, there are
already 21 foreign-founded insurance companies in China,
outnumbering the state-owned insurance companies. Besides, another
20 insurance companies have also got permission to open branches or
joint-ventures in China. Sun Qixiang, director of the Insurance
Department of Peking University, said that a lack of talents and
the far-fewer-than-enough professional training programs in
insurance field will be one of the biggest challenges China's
insurance industry has to face following China's entry into WTO.
One thing is certain that more and more foreign-funded banks or
insurance companies will be landing in China. While trying to
penetrate China's market, they will first turn their focus on
Chinese finance talents, making these already "hot" finance
specialists even more in demand.
Trend 2. A more flexible household registration system; access for
specialists eases
In
the many high-tech enterprises in Zhongguancun in Beijing,
nicknamed China's Silicon Valley, already some 100,000 employees
are working without Beijing hukou [a permanent Beijing
residential card]. It can be predicted that the limits that these
residential cards set on people's mobility will be further blurred
while the space for people's mobility will become even wider. Han
Guangyao, chief of Beijing Talent Exchange Association and Beijing
Talent Service Center, said that the real freedom in talent-flow
indicates that market demand rather than any other factor now
determines the distribution of human resources in China. In 2002,
policies that attract more qualified personnel to meet the market
demand will take the place of ones that offer strict control over
the influx of people into Beijing; and ones that accord favorable
permissions to the qualified with certain conditions will
substitute for the planned quota system under the hukou
policy. All of these measures will become basic policies in Beijing
to attract talents from outside the city. A temporary residential
certificate still exists which has become for some almost the same
[in terms of privileges] as that of the hukou, It will
become a common practice with various styles for specialists to
come in and out of the city to fill part-time jobs, share
information, cooperate on projects, and introduce new ideas. As for
this population in flux, these people don't need to worry about
permanent resident status in Beijing as long as they can justify
themselves in the fierce competition.
Trend 3. Chinese and foreign headhunters look for talents; job
market opens further
Over 300 foreign headhunting firms exist in China, according to one
survey, although they have to appear in public as consultant
companies for enterprises' management or for human resources'
management due to the many restrictions on them imposed by the
Chinese government. But from now on, according to the favorable
conditions ratified in the Regulation for the Management of Job
Market -- co-issued by the Ministry of Personnel and the State
Administration for Industry and Commerce -- foreign headhunters can
legally open their business by means of running joint-venture
companies or by cooperating with local headhunters. Meanwhile, it
is expected that more foreign businesses not yet been authorized by
the Chinese government will seek to enter China's market during the
initial period after China's WTO entry. The aim of market-access
permission for foreign headhunters is to open the nation's job
market more widely. So far, there are 4,500 various employment
service institutes in China, most of which have some relations with
the Chinese government. With the implementation of the Regulation
for the Management of Job Market and thanks to China's WTO entry,
it is inevitable that a reform is necessary among employment
service institutes. Therefore, the year 2002 will be a "reform
year" for Chinese human resource service institutes. After China's
WTO entry, the biggest challenge that Chinese employment service
institutes have to deal with is to regulate their operational
system, so as to make it more in keeping with today's situation. It
can be predicted that after the reform in 2002, some local
employment service institutes long attached to the personnel
departments of certain government agencies will be totally
independent. As for some service institutes for individual
industries, they will also independently run their own business,
making them more market-oriented. It's also natural that some less
competitive employment service institutes will be kicked out of the
arena if they lose their footholds during the fierce competition.
Therefore, when foreign headhunters are striving for market share
in China as multinational companies, it is a must for China's
employment service institutes to try multi-regional management and
group management. Many phenomena indicate that employment
institutes are enhancing their efforts in joining the powerful ones
to improve their own competitiveness. By allying with the strong,
and through acquisition and re-organization, China is striving to
make an aircraft carrier, and to set up a large-scale group company
with many Chinese employment service institutes' team
contributions. In this regard, a breakthrough is expected in this
year.
Trend 4: Take positions with certificates, education is in
vogue
There is no doubt that the competition in every aspect of life will
be keener especially after China successfully joined WTO.
Certainly, more and more people will return to the classroom to
improve their own intellectual quality and to enhance their ability
to face challenges, so as to hunt for a much better job in the
future. According to a survey conducted in Beijing, Shanghai and
Guangzhou, over 70 percent of the interviewees showed that they
would like to improve themselves to welcome the challenges
triggered by China's accession into WTO. The number of various
training workshops, research classes, forums and seminars to
improve ability, and to further various expertise is increasing
rapidly compared with the previous year. These days, such education
is a booming industry. People benefiting from these programs are
mostly ordinary personnel or people who have been aid off. Among
these programs, training workshops focusing on WTO expertise is
destined soon to become a very hot industry. As for enterprises,
they also attach great importance to personnel training, regarding
it not only as an investment which will pay off in the near future,
but also a favorable condition to lure talents. More enterprises
will try to make themselves into enterprises for learning. One
thing worth mentioning is that the popular trend of taking exams
for certain certificates will make this year's training industry
much hotter. On the other hand, "foreign certificate" is very much
favored this year in China. Besides those foreign certificates that
are already applicable in China, more and more such certificates
will soon flood into the country from outside, such as certificates
for commercial designer, project manager, auditor for information
system, accountant with special permission. It is estimated that
the promising training industry will enjoy a record-high popularity
this year.
(北京青年報
[Beijing Youth Daily] translated by Feng Shu for china.org.cn April
30, 2002)