Chinese job market dries up with a slowing economy

The Chinese job market looked terribly gloomy once Quanton Data put together a complete picture of a deteriorating graph. The firm that focuses on data restructuring has compiled job postings of more than 100 different job boards catering to China.

The findings look pretty alarming when Erik Haines, founder and chief executive of Quanton, disclosed a snippet to Business Insider. The big picture, as per Haines is, "that both the number of large companies (1,000+ employees) that are posting and the overall number of postings by large companies significantly decreased across almost all sectors starting in November '15. Very telling as these companies manage their inventory."

Reportedly, the manufacturing sector in China hardly produced any manufacturing jobs, as indicated by the October Quanton data, according to Daily News. The situation became gloomier when January saw the China factory scene hit its all-time low.

A scene like this is definitely not good news for the 7.7 million graduates who are about to complete higher education this summer and step into the country's job market. A lot of candidates are forced to widen their job search instead of limiting the same to just their home towns. A 26-year old who had been looking for work in the medical field said, "First, I noticed that there were fewer jobs being offered by companies, while the jobs at hospitals I was interested in required at least a doctorate," he said. "What's more, the salary offered was lower than I expected. So I had to give up on Guangzhou and shift my attention to Beijing and Shanghai."

Zhang Jingxiu, executive director of a Beijing-based employment consultancy, commented on the downward economic pressures of the country adversely affecting the overall job market outlook. "Demand for talent shrank as the economy slowed. We have also noticed slow growth in salaries across different cities since the second half of 2015," said Zhang. "When we talk about college graduate employment, we are not talking about whether they can find jobs. The key point is whether the jobs are satisfactory."

Meanwhile, the market is about to get tougher for the local candidates with the government considering lifting the restrictions for international students studying in China. In the words of Wang Huiyao, director of the Center for China and Globalization, "International talents will help Chinese companies expand their business globally."' He added that "There is always a high demand for graduates with an international background," as per China Daily.

Zhongguancun, a high-tech hub in Beijing, might be the first location to place the overseas candidates, who might even be freshers from abroad. Previously, because of the cap, overseas students studying in China were unable to find jobs or even internships in the country immediately after graduation.