Recruiting salaries creep up in 2022

Despite economic headwinds, pay slowly increases for job-seekers

The job market saw a marginal increase in recruiting salaries in 2022 with financial and information technology industries in first-tier cities offering job-seekers higher remuneration, according to a recruitment agency.

Zhaopin, a recruitment portal, said in a recent report that the average recruiting salary in the fourth quarter of 2022 was 10,558 yuan ($1,533) per month in 38 surveyed cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, up 3.8 percent from the previous quarter.

By comparison, the average fourth-quarter recruiting salary in 2021 was 10,111 yuan, slightly lower, according to Zhaopin.

The average salary, according to the report, was 10,014 yuan, 10,341 yuan and 10,168 yuan respectively in the first three quarters of 2022, with the rises and falls corresponding to the COVID-19 epidemic and its effect on the job market.

Companies have reduced their headcounts in recruitment while some key vacancies remained in the second quarter after taking a hit from the epidemic, which lifted the average recruiting salary to 10,341 yuan per month for the quarter from 10,014 yuan in the previous quarter.

Some cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in Guangdong province came out in front in terms of recruiting salaries thanks to their more sound economic base. However, places with weaker economies in northeastern parts of the nation like Harbin and Changchun were less attractive to job-seekers because of lower recruiting salaries — around 7,600 yuan per month, the report said.

Beijing took the top spot in the fourth quarter with the average recruiting salary reaching 13,930 yuan per month, which was followed by Shanghai and Shenzhen, whose monthly recruiting salaries were 13,832 yuan and 13,086 yuan on average.

Out of these cities offering well-paid jobs, industries focusing on finance including banking, securities and insurance were the most highly paid, according to the report. In Shanghai, recognized as one of the world's financial centers, the monthly recruiting salary for financial companies was as high as 17,042 yuan on average.

Pay in the service industries, such as tourism and hotels, was hit hard in 2022. The report said the average recruiting salary was around 7,500 yuan per month for hotel vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Xu Hui, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said that the nation has faced many problems in creating new jobs and stabilizing the job market because of the epidemic.

He added that the salary ranking of different industries and jobs, and the income gaps between developed areas and less developed ones, may influence the choices of young job-seekers.

Recruitment platform Zhaopin said that companies have faced more uncertainties in their recruitment campaigns in the past few years due to the epidemic and economic downturns, so it's better for job-seekers to adjust their own expectations to salaries to help land jobs successfully.