Shanghai Job Placement Center, the city's only government job placement organization, announced yesterday that it recorded more than 1 million job openings last year.

Nearly 70,000 companies put up more than 1 million job vacancies on the center's Website (www.12333.gov.cn) last year, 19.3 percent higher than that of 2003.

Most positions were jobs requiring a low education background, while about a third required a college degree or above or a senior professional title.

The number of people going to the center also jumped. The number was up by 6 percent to a record 1.03 million last year.

Local middle-aged, laid-off workers and surplus labor force from the city's rural areas continued to form the biggest applicant group. That put the city's employment demand-to-supply ratio at 0.97 last year, compared with the 0.93 in 2003, center officials said.

"Though the labor market presents a growing, lucrative prospect thanks to the city's rapid economic development, the supply-demand unbalance is still prominent in individual positions," said the center's Ding Feng. For instance, greenery and gardening engineers were in demand.

The center saw about 22,200 greenery and gardening positions put up last year. It was the first time for the job to be listed with restaurant waiters and chefs as one of the top 10 demanding professions at the center.

Senior greenery or gardening designers who do scenic planning for residential areas were in particular demand. A job fair for real estate industry professionals saw 20 percent of recruiters asking for greenery designers.

"The city's recent real estate mania, plus the public's increasingly high demand for an ideal living environment, have forced developers to expand their outlook to professionals who know both about architecture and horticulture design," Ding said.

Previously, garden design was shouldered by interior decoration designers at most real estate firms. Greenery engineers with a college degree and about three years' work experience could be paid up to 2,500 yuan (US$301) per month.

(Shanghai Daily January 18, 2005)