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Zhaopin: China College Graduates Facing Challenging Labor Market and Declining Salaries

2017-05-26 08:30 4518

BEIJING, May 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Zhaopin Limited (NYSE: ZPIN) ("Zhaopin" or the "Company"), a leading career platform[1] in China focused on connecting users with relevant job opportunities throughout their career lifecycle, today released a report on its 2017 career survey of college graduates in China. The report found that college graduates are facing a more challenging labor market, and declining average monthly salary.

China will have a record of 7.95 million graduating students joining the labor force this year. Zhaopin conducted its 2017 survey of college graduates to analyze their employability, based on their perceptions of the labor market, job-hunting efforts and results. About 93,420 college graduates participated in the survey this year, including junior college graduates, undergraduates and graduate students.

Strong overall market

There are signs that the overall labour is showing signs of strengthening in line with overall economy gaining momentum. This has been evidenced by the CIER index compiled by Zhaopin and Renmin University, which tracks the ratio of job vacancies to job seekers in a variety of industries and cities across the country, rose to 1.91 in the first quarter of 2017, from 1.71 during the same period of 2016. The rising index is an indication the labour market had improved with the economy as was reported in April.

But certain challenges exist for graduates

However, not all parts of the labour market are strengthening. The record size of this year's graduating class is posing unique challenges for graduates. With such a large graduating class this year, new job seekers still face a daunting challenge, especially those from less well-known universities outside the top tier. To help address some of these challenges, Zhaopin has developed the National Employability Test to both help graduates and employers identify suitable talents.

Highlights of Zhaopin's 2017 report on college graduates:

  • About 40.8% of graduates believed the labor market was very challenging this year, up from 36.5% last year.
  • 26.7% of college graduates had signed employment contracts this year, down from 35.4% last year.
  • The average monthly salary for college graduates declined by 16% this year to RMB4,014.
  • The average monthly salary for male graduates was RMB4,374, higher than RMB3,624 for female graduates.
  • The IT/telecom/electronics/internet sector offered the highest monthly salary of RMB4,867, followed by RMB4,692 in the financial sector and RMB4,457 for the traffic/transportation/logistics/warehousing sector.
  • For the first time since Zhaopin started the survey in 2014, "opportunities to learn and grow" overtook "good salary and welfare" as the most important factor for college graduates in assessing jobs.

Challenging labor market for college graduates

Zhaopin's survey shows that college graduates are facing a more challenging labor market this year. About 40.8% of graduates believed the market is very challenging this year, up from 36.5% last year. 47% of graduates thought the job market was acceptable, even though difficult.

2017 labor market situation for colleges graduates

Difficult and very challenging

40.8%

Difficult, but acceptable

47.0%

The market was OK

9.4%

Not difficult at all

0.8%

Not clear

2.0%

Trying to secure a job, 41.3% of graduates submitted 11 to 30 resumes this year, and 11.7% even gave out more than 51 resumes to potential employers.

Resume submission by college graduates

More than 51 resumes

11.7%

31 to 50 resumes

12.5%

11 to 30 resumes

41.3%

Under 10 resumes

31.5%

Did not submit resume

3.0%

It was more difficult to get interview opportunities this year, Zhaopin found. 31.9% of college graduates got 1 to 3 interviews, and 27.1% had 4 to 5 interviews. About 8.3% of graduates did not get any interviews this year, up from 3% last year.

Interviews obtained by college graduates

More than 11 interviews

12.0%

6 to 10 interviews

20.7%

4-5 interviews

27.1%

1-3 interviews

31.9%

No interview

8.3%

By the end of April this year, 27.7% of college graduates still had not received any job offer, higher than the 24.8% seen last year. Meanwhile, 50.2% of graduates got 1 to 3 job offers, lower than the 55.4% last year.

Job offers for college graduates

No offer

27.7%

1 offer

15.5%

2 offers

18.9%

3 offers

15.8%

4 offers

9.1%

5 offers

6.0%

6 offers

4.9%

7 or more offers

2.0%

About 26.7% of college graduates had signed employment contracts this year, down from 35.4% last year. 29.5% of male graduates and 24.7% of female graduates signed contracts this year.

Employment contracts for college graduates

Signed contract

26.7%

Did not sign contract yet

73.3%

For graduates who had job offers but declined to sign contracts, the top reasons were "salary/welfare did not meet expectation" (35.5%), "did not like position/work" (32.4%), and "not satisfied with work location" (27.7%).

Reasons for not accepting job offers

Salary/welfare did not meet expectation

35.5%

Did not like position/work

32.4%

Not satisfied with work location

27.7%

Waiting for better offers

22.2%

Poor outlook for career development

21.2%

Work environment did not meet expectation

19.6%

Poor industry outlook

11.1%

Choosing among multiple offers

10.1%

Company reputation did not meet expectation

6.7%

Ready to sign contract

6.4%

Start-up company with high risk

5.7%

Declining monthly salary

Both the expected and actual monthly salary for college graduates declined this year, Zhaopin survey found. The average expected monthly salary was RMB4,875 this year, a drop of RMB110 from last year. The average actual monthly salary for college graduates declined by RMB751 to reach RMB4,014 this year.

Average monthly salary for college graduates (RMB)


Expected

Actual

2014

4,357

3,945

2015

5,265

4,793

2016

4,985

4,765

2017

4,875

4,014

The average actual monthly salary for male graduates was RMB4,374, higher than RMB3,624 for female graduates. The IT/telecom/electronics/internet sector offered the highest monthly salary of RMB4,867, followed by RMB4,692 from the financial sector and RMB4,457 from the traffic/transportation/logistics/warehousing sector.

Sectors with highest average  monthly salaries for college

graduates (RMB)

IT/telecom/electronics/internet

4,867

Financial

4,692

traffic/transportation/logistics/warehousing

4,457

Among graduates who already signed employment contracts, 33.5% choose to work in first-tier cities and 33.1% would go to emerging first-tier cities. Emerging first-tier cities were actually more attractive to college graduates as 37.5% of them desired to find jobs there.

Cities selected by college graduates


Preferred

Actual

First-tier cities

29.9%

33.5%

Emerging first-tier cities

37.5%

33.1%

Second-tier cities

21.3%

19.0%

Third-tier cities and below

11.3%

14.4%

The IT/telecom/electronics/internet sector was the most attractive sector with 19.4% of college graduates preferred to work in this field and 20.3% actually found related jobs.

Sectors selected by college graduates


Preferred

Actual

IT/telecom/electronics/internet

19.4%

20.3%

Culture/media/entertainment/sports

9.6%

3.3%

Financial

9.3%

7.8%

Professional service (consulting/finance and accounting/legal/AD/PR/authentication/outsourcing)

9.1%

 

5.6%

Real estate/construction

8.0%

11.2%

Service(healthcare/nursing/beauty/hotel/restaurant/

travel/vacation)

6.9%

 

8.6%

Automobile/manufacturing/processing

6.7%

15.3%

Trade/wholesale/retail/leasing/FMCG/durable
consumer goods

6.2%

 

7.5%

Education/arts and crafts

5.7%

4.3%

Government/non-profit organization

5.0%

0.7%

Energy/mineral/environmental protection

3.4%

3.6%

Traffic/transportation/logistics/warehousing

2.9%

4.2%

Farming/forestry/animal husbandry/fishery

0.9%

1.2%

Others

7.0%

6.5%

Changing attitude

As to future plans after graduation, about 73.5% of graduates would find a job. Students planning for further education in China dropped sharply to 6.3% this year, from 16.5% last year. Students planning for further education overseas also declined to 3.4% this year, from 4.8% last year. Nearly 10% of graduates said they don't intend to take a job after graduation. They would like to take some time off to travel, do volunteer work, or spend time with parents.

Intentions after graduation

Looking for a job

73.5%

Further education in China

6.3%

Further education overseas

3.4%

Start own business

6.3%

Taking some time off

9.8%

Others

0.7%

What is the ideal job for college graduates? About 55.9% of graduates preferred jobs with "opportunities to learn and grow", while 52.2% chose "good salary and welfare". It was the first time since Zhaopin started the survey in 2014 that "opportunities to learn and grow" had overtaken "good salary and welfare" as the most important factor for college graduate to assess a job.

Ideal job for college graduates

Opportunities to learn and grow

55.9%

Good salary and welfare

52.2%

Growth potential of industry/company

34.9%

Harmonious company environment

25.2%

Fit with personal interests

22.8%

Room to perform with abilities

20.5%

Suitable position

19.1%

Clear career development path

17.8%

Balance of work and life

16.2%

Freedom in workstyle

13.5%

Others

0.3%

College graduates were more rational with overtime. They would work overtime when necessary to complete urgent projects, finish their own work, or improve their skills. About 40.3% of graduates would accept 2 to 5 hours of overtime a week, and 23.1% could work overtime 5 to 8 hours a week.

Acceptable overtime for college graduates

Within 2 hours a week

24.5%

2 to 5 hours a week

40.3%

5 to 8 hours a week

23.1%

8 to 10 hours a week

8.6%

No overtime

3.5%

About Zhaopin Limited

Zhaopin is a leading career platform in China, focusing on connecting users with relevant job opportunities throughout their career lifecycle. The Company's zhaopin.com website is the most popular career platform in China as measured by average daily unique visitors in each of the 12 months ended March 31, 2017, number of registered users as of March 31, 2017 and number of unique customers[2] for the three months ended March 31, 2017. The Company's over 135.0 million registered users include diverse and educated job seekers who are at various stages of their careers and are in demand by employers as a result of the general shortage of skilled and educated workers in China. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016, approximately 36.9 million job postings[3] were placed on Zhaopin's platform by 509,813 unique customers including multinational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises and state-owned entities. The quality and quantity of Zhaopin's users and the resumes in the Company's database attract an increasing number of customers. This in turn leads to more users turning to Zhaopin as their primary recruitment and career- related services provider, creating strong network effects and significant entry barriers for potential competitors. For more information, please visit http://www.zhaopin.com.

Safe Harbor Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Zhaopin may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Any statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Zhaopin's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements that involve factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but not limited to the following: Zhaopin's goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition and results of operations; its ability to retain and grow its user and customer base for its online career platform; the growth of, and trends in, the markets for its services in China; the demand for and market acceptance of its brand and services; competition in its industry in China; its ability to maintain the network infrastructure necessary to operate its website and mobile applications; relevant government policies and regulations relating to the corporate structure, business and industry; and its ability to protect its users' information and adequately address privacy concerns. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date of the press release, and Zhaopin does not undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

[1] Zhaopin's website is the most popular career platform in China as measured by average daily unique visitors in each of the 12 months ended March  31, 2017, the number of registered users as of March 31, 2017 and the number of unique customers for the three months ended March  31, 2017.

[2] A "unique customer" refers to a customer that purchases the Company's online recruitment services during a specified period. Zhaopin makes adjustments for multiple purchases by the same customer to avoid double counting. Each customer is assigned a unique identification number in the Company's information management system. Affiliates and branches of a given customer may, under certain circumstances, be counted as separate unique customers."

[3] Zhaopin calculates the number of job postings by counting the number of newly placed job postings during each respective period. Job postings that were placed prior to a specified period - even if available during such period - are not counted as job postings for such period. Any particular job posting placed on the Company's website may include more than one job opening or position.

For more information, please contact:

Zhaopin Limited 
Ms. Daisy Wang 
Investor Relations 
ir@zhaopin.com.cn

ICR Beijing
Mr. Edmond Lococo
Phone: +86 10 6583-7510
Edmond.Lococo@icrinc.com

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zhaopin-china-college-graduates-facing-challenging-labor-market-and-declining-salaries-300463835.html

Source: Zhaopin Limited
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