Reports from China suggest that more and more western expatriates are capitalising on the growing economy of China and venturing East for exciting new job opportunities.
As Western economies falter, more skilled workers are choosing to move over to pastures new, and there is strong demand for expat staff in China.
As expatriate staff numbers rise, as does the need within senior roles, as people are needed who can understand and communicate well with the foreign staff. Figures released by the Chinese Ministry of Human Resources prove that the number of expatriates is rising- in 2009 223,000 foreigners were employed in China, and this figure rose to 231,700 by the end of 2010.
As touched upon, an economy that is performing better than both Europe and the United States is the reason so many expats are finding work. Carter Young, a managing director in China, explained the situation to China Daily: “This year, China's average gross domestic product increase is about 8 to 10 percent. This has created more opportunities, especially within the financial services, pharmaceutics as well as the retail industry. The country provides an abundance of bigger career platforms and opportunities. We have witnessed both international investment companies and local Chinese companies focusing on expansion plans within the past decade. Besides the strong need for international talent to grow their businesses in China, they also require top-tier candidates for their businesses in international markets.”
Recognising the standing of China as a premier expatriate destination, here at Expat & Offshore we have a number of City Guides looking at the different factors of expatriate life in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and many other popular global expatriate destinations.