Recruitment in China is expected to decline over the next three months, as more than half of companies have no plan to increase headcount, according to a survey.
Conducted by Manpower, the survey found only 25 percent of more than 4,000 employers interviewed would increase headcounts in the fourth quarter, 6 percentage points below the previous quarter and 26 points down from the same period last year.
Factors in the poor mood include a high expectation of inflation, the uncertainty of global economics and soaring labor costs. "They are more willing to observe the job market," said Yuan Jianhua, a manager at Manpower China.
Employers from 16 cities, including Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Dalian, and Hangzhou participated in the survey, while Shanghai, along with Beijing, Guangzhou and Tianjin, posted the lowest hiring expectation - 21 percent planning to increase staff, down 4 percentage points from the third quarter and 18 points from the fourth quarter of last year.
And the job market in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, had the most positive job market - 38 percent of employers said they would hire more people, followed by Hangzhou (37 percent) and Wuhan (36 percent).
According to the survey, service businesses had the highest hiring expectation when 25 percent of companies planning to increase staff numbers over the next three months. Employers in construction have it worst - the lowest hiring expectation of 16 percent.
