A report on the development of private social service companies released recently announced that Guangzhou is planning on investing over 55 million RMB to purchase the services of social workers.
Today, 33 private companies providing social services are now operating in Guangzhou - most of which were set up in the past two years - and are employing over 300 full-time staff. For government departments to outsource activities to private companies is a new move aiming at reducing costs. Statistics show that Shenzhen purchased services worth nearly 80 million RMB in 2009, far ahead of Guangzhou at only 15 million RMB, but this number is rapidly growing.
Following this trend, 6 universities in Guangzhou have opened a Social Service department. Whilst the average monthly pay for graduates in Guangzhou is around 2,300 RMB, salaries can reach as high as 4,000 RMB in neighboring cities like Dongguan and Shenzhen.
(By Carrot Chan, David Keyton)
