Multinational companies sent fewer foreign employees to the Chinese mainland in 2009 as they aimed to cut costs during the global financial crisis, China Daily reported Wednesday.

In contrast, the number of Chinese employees with overseas educational background and foreign staff hired from within China increased, the newspaper said, citing a report by Mercer, a global human resources and related financial advice provider.

Among senior management staff, the number of people sent from foreign countries dropped by 6 percent, compared to last year. But the number of foreign staff hired from within the Chinese mainland increased by 12 percent, the report showed.

The largest decrease - 10 percent - was among professional technical staff.

The survey also found 40 - 50 percent of multinational companies froze foreign employees' salaries this year. Among enterprises that raised salaries in 2009, the rise range was the same or even less than that of 2008.

About 38 percent of companies used 'local pay' scales for foreign employees in 2009, an increase of 26 percent on last year.

The survey investigated 91 leading multinational companies in various fields, including high technology, consumer goods, and the chemical and auto industries. The Chinese mainland had 217,000 foreign employees at the end of 2008.