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Survey: Chinese mainland most attractive to Asia-Pacific talents

By Nie Peng (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-09-27 17:49

The Chinese mainland has become the most favored work destination for people relocating in the Asia-Pacific region, with senior executives, managers and engineers as the top three positions filled with foreign talent, a survey conducted by Manpower Inc found.

The employment services provider's Relocating for Work Survey was conducted online in April to gauge people's attitudes and insights about relocating for employment opportunities, both within and across national borders. The survey gathered responses from 31,574 people in 27 labor markets around the world.

More than 81 percent of the respondents would like to move for a higher salary, better career prospects and employment opportunities, according to the survey.

Manpower said the booming economy, increasing foreign capital inflows, expansion of domestic companies and the desire to work internationally had attracted people to relocate to the Chinese mainland to seek better career opportunities.

Globally, the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain were the most preferred work destinations for respondents.

Manpower also surveyed over 28,000 employers across 27 countries and territories to determine the extent to which companies are recruiting foreign talents to fill positions where they are experiencing skill shortages.

The top three positions filled with foreign talent in the Chinese mainland are senior executives, middle management staff and engineers.

"The trend is mainly due to the severe talent shortage of managerial and executive roles in China," said Lucille Wu, Managing Director of Manpower Greater China.

"Multinationals operating in China and lots of domestic companies are badly in need of multilingual talent," she added.

Many foreigners are now working in foreign-funded companies in China owing to the country's opening-up policy and rapidly growing economy.

The expatriate population in Chengdu, for example, capital of northwestern China's Sichuan Province, has been fast expanding in recent years along with massive inflows of foreign investment.

Nearly 20,000 foreigners from 125 countries and regions live in the city, 20 percent of whom work in foreign-funded enterprises, statistics showed.

"Chengdu has also made great changes, and it is similar to France's central and western regions," said Jacques Dumsy, consulate general of France. "I am very comfortable living in the dynamic city."

This year, China's central State-owned enterprises (SOEs) planned to employ 16 senior executives from either home or abroad, Xinhua reported in July.

An official with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said the posts included three general managers, 10 deputy general managers and three chief accountants from industries covering electricity, metallurgy, electronics, chemical engineering and trade. The commission said it would work harder to attract foreign talent to SOEs.

Internationally, the top three jobs filled with foreign talent are laborers, engineers and production operators.