More pay rises on offer as Chinese firms go on recruitment drive, survey finds

Employers in China were willing to pay more to attract staff in the second quarter as companies got back on the recruitment track, an employment survey has found.

Some 41 per cent of new recruits were offered pay increases of between 5 and 10 per cent compared with their previous positions, up from 40 per cent in the first quarter, according to a study by Beijing-based international recruitment and human resources consultancy RMG Selection.

And 14 per cent of new staff came on board with pay rises of between 10 and 20 per cent in the second quarter, compared with 12.1 per cent in the first.  Salary increases of between 20 and 30 per cent were offered to 6 per cent of incoming staff in Q2, up from 3.8 per cent in the previous quarter.

The results were based on a survey of nearly 1,400 companies in eight industries.

In all, 91.2 per cent of employers said they increased headcounts in the second quarter.

RMG Selection chief executive Robert Parkinson said there was huge demand for professionals in the logistics, technology, health care and legal sectors in the second quarter after some employers put recruitment on hold in the first three months of the year because of Lunar New Year.