After once being the employers of choice, foreign companies are being increasingly spurned by Chinese nationals in favour of domestic organisations, says the Wall Street Journal.
Historically preferred for their more competitive salaries, training and travel opportunities, many foreign companies now face fierce competition from their domestic counterparts, which offer more stability and, increasingly, more pay.
A new survey reveals that last year 47% of China’s workers said they preferred to work at a domestic company, compared with 24% choosing a foreign firm. Five years ago, 9% preferred a domestic firm and 42% a foreign company.
Job reductions by foreign firms in China cut deep
Meanwhile, foreign companies are also having to cut jobs as they face the fallout from China’s economy growing at its lowest rate in more than 20 years, the Wall Street Journal reports.
ManpowerGroup says the positions it tracks at foreign companies in China are down 25% this year to October, a sharper drop than during the global financial crisis. The decline affects positions at all levels.
Domestic recruiting firm Zhaopin.com says the number of jobs listed by Western companies on its website has declined 5% this year even though overall job listings have increased about 30%.
UBS makes $10 billion move into Australian property market
UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, is entering Australia’s property market to invest up to $9 billion over the next five years through a joint venture with a local developer.
UBS told Bloomberg that the Asia Pacific as a whole is a strategic priority and Australia is one of the most attractive markets in the region.
The top jobs in Singapore in 2014 will be….
According to the 2013/ 2014 Randstad World of Work Report 68% of employers will look for skilled specialists here next year.
Landmark insider trading ruling in Hong Kong against former Morgan Stanley MD
A Hong Kong court on Thursday ordered a former Morgan Stanley banker who was jailed for insider dealing to pay civil compensation of about $3 million to nearly 300 investors, reports the New York Times.
Du Jun, a former managing director at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, is serving a six-year jail term after he was convicted in a landmark case in 2009 of 10 counts of insider dealing in the shares of Citic Resources Holdings, a state-owned Chinese oil and coal producer.
China Merchants Securities sets up UK subsidiary to tap capital and commodities markets
China Merchants Securities, one of the mainland’s oldest and largest securities houses, has set up a subsidiary in Britain to expand into global capital and commodities markets, with a focus on derivatives, reports the South China Morning Post.