Search for skilled workers moves inland

Shift from coastal regions creates vacancies in central, western China

China's fast-developing economy is thirsty for talent, with skilled workers required by almost every industry.

The nation's human resources market experienced uneven development in 2012, akin to the pattern of its economic growth.

Central, western and northeastern regions of the country were expected to notch up faster GDP growth in 2012 than their eastern counterparts, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning agency.

Many businesses, previously located in coastal regions, have started to move inland in the past few years, in search of lower raw material and labor costs.

The shift has also created many job vacancies in central and western China.

"It is a general trend for businesses to move to inland areas. As a result, there is a growing demand for human resources," said Zhang Hong, vice-president of Aon Hewit, a US provider of human capital and management consulting services.

Experienced managers are the most sought after group of potential hires in inland areas, which only developed a few years ago and have a small human resource pool, Zhang said.

Demand for human resources increased 11.3 percent in central regions and 8.6 percent in western regions in the third quarter of 2012, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Demand declined in eastern parts of the country.

Zhang said that, due to the short supply and huge demand for human resources, wages will continue to rise in inland regions and may even exceed salaries in eastern regions.

According to the ministry, more than 80 percent of China's human resource demand was concentrated in the manufacturing, service, retail, catering and construction industries in the first three quarters of 2012.

Among the main industries, manufacturing had the greatest demand, said the ministry.

The manufacturing industry usually needs a huge number of workers, said Gong Hao, director of Aon Hewitt's payment management division in North China.

But since China's role in the global economy is changing from being the "world's factory" and its market is so important, some foreign companies have also set up research and development centers in China, and engineers are also in need.

Briand Greer, president of Aerospace Asia-Pacific of Honeywell (China), said the company planned to double the number of engineers at its Shanghai research center from the current 200.

Germany's Bayer Health Care, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, enjoys double-digit annual growth in China, but also has to deal with the challenge of a shortage of talented people, including research and development engineers, sales staff and managers, said Alok Kanti, managing director of Bayer Health Care China.