Japanese Managers, Engineers Look to China for
Jobs
According to a report in the Sept. 1 issue of Shanghai's
daily newspaper, Liberation Daily, more than 1,200 middle-aged
Japanese managers and engineers have applied for positions
working in Chinese companies in Shanghai and its immediate
environs.
Shanghai Chuangjia Human Resources Co., a job placement
firm, reported that most of the managers and engineers
come from established Japanese companies, and have been
laid off in Japan's business downturn. Japan has been
in a recession ever since the property and stock market
bubbles burst in 1990. Only recently has the Japanese
government moved to take bad loans from before 1990 off
the books of Japan's banks.
A spokesperson for Chuangjia stressed that all the Japanese
candidates had good credentials and work records, and
their unemployment had nothing to do with their individual
performance. The average salary they are looking for is
in the area of US$50,000 annually including home leave
and benefits. They are looking for work in the service
and manufacturing sectors.
Chuangjia said that even though none of them speak Chinese,
the need for qualified personnel in China had grown such
that it wasn't hard to place them. In today's China job
market, there is a serious shortage of experience mid-level
management and technical personnel.
Shanghai's municipal government also has adopted a welcoming
attitude to qualified foreigners who want to live in the
city of 16 million. In 2002, the Shanghai mayor said that
he hoped 5 percent of the city's population would be non-Chinese,
to drive Shanghai's goal of becoming a world-class cosmopolitan
city. Qualified people can apply to the Shanghai municipal
government for a permit, and according to a grade, are
issued permits to live 1 year or up to 5 years in the
city.
The city of Shanghai already has more than 400,000 Taiwan
residents living in the city, and newspapers from Taiwan
are freely available in the city's cafes. However, since
Taiwan is considered a breakaway province, and not an
independent country, they are not considered to be foreigners.
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