Economy

Steady economy helping foreign firms

By Wu Yiyao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-22 11:10

SHANGHAI - The steady growth of the Chinese economy is bringing opportunities to foreign enterprises in Shanghai and many of these have recruited more employees and raised wages this year, a survey by a domestic human resource institute has showed.

The survey by Shanghai-based CIIC HR polled more than 500 foreign enterprises in Shanghai.

Demand for skilled workers and management specialists have increased in tandem with strong economic recovery, the survey reported.

Foreign enterprises in Shanghai are also showing a rapid pace of expansion. The employment rate for professional, technical, management and director-level positions is three times that of the turnover rate. In European enterprises, 30.5 percent of the employees are newly hired.

Employees are also more active in changing jobs, the survey found. About 21.3 percent of skilled workers and 10 percent of sales staff left their previous firms this year.

This year also witnessed economic recovery in all sectors, and employers and employees have shrugged off the negative impact of the financial crisis, said Cao Fei, a consultant with CIIR HR.

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China's GDP totaled 26.87 trillion yuan ($4.04 trillion) in the first three quarters of this year, growing 10.6 percent from the same period last year, according to statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.

The average salary increase this year in the foreign enterprises polled was 8.3 percent, slightly higher than the 7.4 percent in 2009, the report showed. The rise of wages is expected to grow to 8.8 percent next year.

The average salary for entry-level employees was also different based on their educational background. On average, a fresh undergraduate received 3,000 yuan a month this year, slightly more than that of last year.

A fresh postgraduate received 3,750 yuan a month on average, a little less than that of last year.

The reputation of employees' alma mater and their foreign language proficiency were still important factors for the entry-level salaries of fresh graduates, the report found.