Learn Chinese - Tough test in job market

?  ?

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Tough test in job market

By Chen Hong (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-02 15:33

GUANGZHOU: It is getting more difficult for university graduates to find
a job in South China's Guangdong Province, according to the latest
official statistics on the labor market.

About 229,000 new graduates registered with employment agents in
Guangdong in the second quarter of this year, which was up nearly 27,100,
or 13.4 percent, from the first quarter. That figure was up roughly
134,100, or 141 percent, from the corresponding period of last year.

Guangdong's department of labor and social security released the
quarterly figures on labor conditions on Tuesday.

While more students are able to attend university because of a nationwide
enrollment expansion scheme, they face "more fierce competition" in the
job market, government analysts said in a statement after the release of
the figures.

About 88 percent of the 2.35 million jobs offered in the second quarter
came with specific educational requirements. Sixty percent of the
positions available were for graduates of senior high schools or below,
while 27.7 percent were reserved for graduates with at least a college
diploma, according to the statistics.

Skilled workers are generally more sought after than university graduates
in Guangdong, which has been a manufacturing center since the 1980s.

A senior technician attracted four job offers on average, while a common
university graduate would get just 1.37 available offers, the figures
showed.

The biggest demand for labor was concentrated in the manufacturing,
restaurant and catering and wholesale and retail industries, which
offered nearly 72.2 percent of the jobs on offer from April to June.

Workers capable of operating manufacturing and transportation equipment
and commercial service employees were the most in demand, accounting for
a respective 30 percent and 22.5 percent of the vacancies.

Of the 10 occupations in which supply fell seriously short of demand,
electronic component workers, common laborers and workers for cold
processing of metal were the top three, followed by dressmakers,
insurance agents, waiters or waitresses and cooks.

Secretaries and typists were at the top of the list. The number of job
seekers in this category was nearly double the number of openings,
according to the statistics. This was followed by management staff,
engineering technicians, accountants, drivers and custodians.

(China Daily 08/02/2007 page5)

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Chinese