Asia’s leading total talent management solution provider Career International recently published the 2015 Survey on Companies’ Salaries, showing that
The 2015 salary growth in China is predicted to experience a slow decline under the “new normal”
Agriculture, high-tech, health care and cultural education industries lead the 2015 salary growth charts
While “new forces” Chengdu, Xi’an, Chongqing and Wuhan demonstrate promising developments and growth opportunities.
Private companies boast the highest growth rates in terms of returns and global expansion.
Salaries are expected to increase by 8.4% in 2015 thereby illustrating a steady decline. This report presents the results of the sixth annual Career International Salary survey conducted in November of 2014.and it stated after analyzing data collected from more than 1,200 companies across 15 industries, that the samples of foreign, private and state-owned companies take up 44%, 45% and 11% respectively of the total samples.
The 2015 salary growth in China is expected to experience a slow decline under the “new normal”
The “new normal” refers to economic conditions following the 2007-2012 financial crises. The survey adding more light to the afore mentioned point reveals that interviewed companies expect an average salary increase of 8.4% for 2015; drawing to a remarkably close follow up of 8.3% for 2014 last year. The figures have evidently dropped for five years consecutively.
Experts at Career International believe this reflects the new norms and standards for salaries. According to estimates gathered from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 2015 will witness a GDP growth of 7%, small yet firm footing in exports, a significant decline in domestic investment and a stable growth of consumption and imports. Companies’ salary growth will show a “new normal” and deceleration. The growth mainly accumulates from service-based industries, from key regions that include second-tier, third-tier and fourth-tier cities and private economies.
Agriculture, high-tech, health care and cultural education lead the 2015 salary growth!
The outlook across many cities is one of growing positivity for employers and employees alike. The survey shows that industries leading the overall salary growth are agriculture (9.8%), high-tech (9.7%), health care (9.3%) and cultural education (9.3%). E-commerce and financial services seem to enjoy faster growths as compared with last year’s results. Real estate and machine manufacturing industries continue to drop on the growth scale this year as well.
• Agriculture: Crop science, rations, agricultural processing etc present the strongest growth
Over the past ten years, the annual growth of China’s organic food export has been over 30% on average, and the domestic demand has been constantly expanding. Since modern agriculture is sought after by capital, there is an influx of new companies offering support and an increase in production bases, mergers and acquisitions can be noticed. The sales department shifts its focus on a new trend that combines community, online shops and e-commerce to help boost production and distribution.
Recruitment is firmly on the agenda as many organizations adapt to increasing workloads resulting from the arrival of “new normal”. However, employers still find it difficult to recruit candidates with the right skills and experience they need as the talent mismatch becomes more acute and competitive.
In companies, there are many shortages from front-line technical employees to senior management personnel, especially high-end technical and management personnel, quality control and brand operation talents. The pace and influence of recovery differs between sectors, professions and geographic locations, but many new companies are investing heavily to attract new talents. That is why segments of crop science, food ingredients and agricultural processing etc present the strongest salary growth.
• High-tech: Big data analysis and prediction talents are the most sought-after
China has become the largest E-commerce market in the world. In the eve of next decade, Internet sales alone is expected to contribute anywhere from 7%~ 22% of China’s entire GDP growth. Mobile devices, cloud computing, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), SNS and big data will drive the entire industry forward to more complex selling strategies and dynamics.
As big data analysis and prediction technology are becoming increasingly popular, cloud computing and wearable devices were no less an instant hit among the masses and sales are only expected to rise in the near future. Internet giants’ employee stock ownership plan speeds up leaving more companies to focus on long-term incentives and personalized benefits, while results show that traditional IT fields are less competitive in salaries.
• Health care: Apparent salary growth for talents of health product development and medical devices
In the next ten years, China is expected to become the new pioneer and global force in the development and promotions of medicinal drugs. Economic transformation, government support, urbanization, lifestyle changes and an aging population are important factors that contribute to the fast growth of the industry.
Salaries remain to display a steady growth as it has in recent years. Incentives and other benefits appear to be more competitive in local companies, surpassing the age-old myth that foreign establishments and MNCs offer more attractive deals. Some unusual industries with a niche popularity and support such as health product development and medical devices even experienced growth rates twice as high as their numbers from last years.
• Culture and Education
Research has determined that the recent focus on culture and education as an instrument to gain business growth and strategies owes its thanks to the rapid development of the digital industry. This generation of people are better connected and informed than ever before hence resulting in a drastic rise in awareness when it comes to culture or education.
There has been a sharp increase in the use of digital media of all kinds. In 2014, the online education market scale was Rmb0.26billion. The market is set to see a 30% annual growth in the following years. Engagement in social entrepreneurships have increased as well paving way for NGOs to communicate, seek help and spread word about their cause on a large scale.
In the emerging online education sector with Internet thinking, there’s a shortage of product development talents and trainers. In the past, most non-profit organizations had a low percentage of professionals, but the percentage has been rising in recent years.
• E-commerce and finance industries see the highest salary growth
Compared with the salary growth in 2014, E-commerce and finance industries expect the fastest salary growth in 2015.
Our experts believe that China has become the e-commerce king with the highest sales in the world. As traditional companies set foot in e-commerce, the demand for talents increases. Meanwhile, the industry also faces competition from other industries, for example, some finance and automobile companies hire a lot of e-commerce talents, leading to salary growth in 2015.
The Chinese finance industry is growing rapidly. As business becomes diversified, the demand for talents with an international vision who are also familiar with financial management and pricing of integrated products as well as cross-industry and cross-border operations increases along with it. In addition, the emergence of Internet finance drives companies to recruit more talents with internet and programming skills to compensate for competitive salaries everywhere.
The “new forces” Chengdu, Xi’an, Chongqing and Wuhan demonstrate promising developments and growth opportunities.
Second-tier and third-tier cities expect a salary growth of 9.0% in 2015, higher than first-tier cities. The growth for non-management staff is 10.3%, also higher than first-tier cities. Chengdu, Xi’an, Chongqing and Wuhan are the most eye-catching among second-tier and third-tier cities, showing a growth of 9.9%, 9.7%, 9.7% and 9.5% respectively. Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou all present a growth rate of 8.3%.
According to our international experts, companies have to regulate their cross-regional strategy to attract talents, and build a clear and attractive employer brand due to urbanization, expansion of second-tier, third-tier, fourth-tier and fifth-tier cities as well as find alternatives to compensate for shortage of talents in emerging market, especially front-line staff, professional and technical talents in first-tier cities. Employees’ ideas are changing too. In view of living expenses and constant change in quality of life in an emerging market, they should be willing to consider the opportunities in the mainland.
Ranking of growth in some hotspot cities
| Average salary growth | Non-management staff | Management staff |
Chengdu | 9.9% | 12.0% | 7.9% |
Xi’an | 9.7% | 11.7% | 7.8% |
Chongqing | 9.7% | 11.6% | 7.6% |
Wuhan | 9.5% | 10.2% | 9.2% |
Tianjin | 8.5% | 9.3% | 7.7% |
Ningbo | 8.4% | 9.6% | 7.4% |
Dalian | 8.3% | 9.4% | 7.1% |
Shanghai | 8.3% | 9.0% | 7.9% |
Guangzhou | 8.3% | 9.6% | 7.5% |
Qingdao | 8.3% | 9.6% | 7.9% |
Beijing | 8.3% | 9.0% | 7.5% |
Hangzhou | 8.3% | 9.5% | 7.3% |
Nanjing | 7.8% | 8.4% | 6.8% |
Shenzhen | 7.6% | 8.6% | 6.8% |
Data source: 2015 Survey on Companies’ Salaries by Career International
Private companies boast the highest growth rates in terms of returns and global expansion.
Among all the interviewed companies, private companies boast the highest average growth in 2015, reaching 9.4%, with 10.4% for non-management staff and 8.6% for management staff.
“The global environment paints a long-term picture of the status of private economies and it appears to be constructive. Expansion of global economy and creating strong job opportunities are what’s motivating private investors. Private companies increase e-commerce investments as a means of providing industrial contribution to the economy. As a result, cross border mergers and acquisitions of private companies have also scored remarkably well. As private companies become more competitive and invest more in human capital, a significant number of talents who used to work for foreign companies are now joining local private firms. These local firms have made outstanding progress by reinventing their incentive systems and offering competitive salaries and benefits.” revealed Xin Guo, CEO and President of Career International.
Leadership and cultural construction especially have raised the stakes of their salaries and benefits for management positions, having surpassed foreign competitors. In terms of non-management positions, foreign companies still play a leading role due to the immaculate training and performance system they have employed. As a result, increase of salaries and benefits is the top and most efficient strategy adopted by private companies.
For more report data, please contact:
Elvin Zhang PR Supervisor
+86-21-61602784
18621775627
elvinzhang@careerintlinc.com
Peter Liu Marketing Director
+86-21-61602788
13818857425
peterliu@careerintlinc.com
Career International
As the leading total talent management solution provider in Asia, Career International, established in 1996, has over 1,000 professional recruitment consultants working in 40 offices in mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippine and Thailand,offering executive search, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), flexible staffing, sales & marketing outsourcing, campus recruitment, training and talent acquisition consulting etc for customers across 18 fields and industries. We have established long-term cooperation with over 1,500 multinational corporations, domestic listed companies, fast-growing companies and non-profit organizations. Over the past year alone, we have successfully recommended more than 20,000 senior management, professional and technical employees, and over 20,000 times of total-risk flexible staffing. For more information, please visit www.careerintlinc.com.
