Overseas Returnees to China Have Bright Prospects for Employment and Entrepreneurship, Report by Zhaopin and CCG Finds
BEIJING, Aug. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Zhaopin Limited ("Zhaopin" or the "Company"), a leading career platform in China focused on matching talent with skills and opportunities through their career lifecycle, and the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), a leading Chinese independent think tank based in Beijing, jointly released the "Report on Employment & Entrepreneurship of Chinese Returnees 2018".
With the fast pace of economic growth in China, more and more overseas Chinese students are returning to China for career development or starting their own businesses. More than 480,900 overseas Chinese students returned to China in 2017, bringing the total number of returnees to over 3.13 million since 1978, according to statistics by the Ministry of Education.
Zhaopin and CCG have been conducting their annual survey to track the employment trends of overseas returnees since 2015. This year's report revealed the latest development in their employment and entrepreneurship endeavors, their choices and situations before and after studying abroad. The report is based on 2,190 effective survey responses from overseas returnees this year.
Highlights for employment and entrepreneurship of Chinese returnees 2018:
- The top reasons for overseas Chinese to return to China: to reunite with family and friends (67%); China's booming economic growth (40%); and unfavorable overseas economic, political and social environments, such as work and immigration policies (27%).
- About 61% of returnees went back to their hometowns in China. The rest relocated mainly to developed areas, including Beijing (13%), Shanghai (8%) and Guangdong Province (7%).
- The pace of local economic growth was an important reference for overseas returnees in their relocation decisions. While Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong were attracting overseas returnees, the Northeast and Western China were losing overseas talent.
- About 65% of overseas returnees believed that the "Talent War" waged by cities to attract talent showed that local governments gave more importance and attention to talent, and 52% said more policy supports were needed for overseas returnees.
- Over 72% of overseas returnees were currently employed, 5% were starting their own businesses and 16% were still looking for jobs.
- About 42% of overseas returnees could find jobs within one month after they came back to China, and 41% could find employment in one to three months.
- In terms of salary, about 33% of overseas returnees had a pre-tax monthly salary below RMB6,000, 25% had a monthly salary of RMB6,001 to 8,000, and 15% earned RMB8,001 to 10,000 per month.
- About 80% of overseas returnees were not satisfied with their salaries. Among them, 49% said their salaries were below expectations, and 31% said their salaries were far below expectations.
Studying overseas
More Chinese students chose to study overseas over the past decade. The top reasons were: to learn the culture and life of other countries and enrich personal experience (76%); to improve independent living ability (52%); and higher education quality abroad (51%).
| Reasons for studying overseas |
|||
| Reason |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Learn the culture and life of other countries and enrich personal experience |
69% |
81% |
76% |
| Improve independent living ability |
53% |
51% |
52% |
| Higher education quality abroad |
53% |
50% |
51% |
| More competitive after returning to China |
31% |
35% |
33% |
| Fierce competition of domestic education resources |
20% |
13% |
17% |
| Plan to develop overseas |
8% |
6% |
7% |
| Other |
1% |
2% |
2% |
UK, US, Australia, Japan and South Korea were the top five destinations that attracted the most Chinese students.
| Destinations for overseas study |
|||
| Country/region |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| UK |
15.35% |
22.46% |
19.14% |
| US |
21.23% |
15.18% |
18.01% |
| Australia |
11.33% |
9.16% |
10.17% |
| Japan |
10.19% |
9.91% |
10.04% |
| South Korea |
8.90% |
8.78% |
8.84% |
| Canada |
5.16% |
4.02% |
4.55% |
| France |
3.30% |
5.52% |
4.48% |
| Germany |
3.44% |
2.38% |
2.88% |
| Russia |
3.01% |
2.38% |
2.68% |
| New Zealand |
1.58% |
2.51% |
2.07% |
| Hong Kong |
1.29% |
1.88% |
1.61% |
| Netherlands |
0.57% |
0.75% |
0.67% |
| Macao |
0.57% |
0.38% |
0.47% |
| Sweden |
0.43% |
0.38% |
0.40% |
| Taiwan |
0.29% |
0.38% |
0.33% |
| Others |
13.34% |
13.93% |
13.65% |
Regarding majors chosen by Chinese students, 43% studied economics and business, 14% selected arts and humanities, and 10% engineering.
| Top ten majors selected by Chinese students |
|||
| Major |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Economics and business |
44.05% |
42.66% |
43.31% |
| Arts and humanities |
7.46% |
19.70% |
13.99% |
| Engineering |
15.21% |
4.64% |
9.57% |
| Computer science |
9.76% |
1.38% |
5.29% |
| Management |
3.01% |
6.78% |
5.02% |
| Social Sciences and public health |
3.16% |
5.14% |
4.22% |
| linguistics |
2.30% |
4.77% |
3.61% |
| Environment / ecology |
2.58% |
1.13% |
1.81% |
| Journalism and communication |
0.57% |
1.88% |
1.27% |
| Chemistry |
1.72% |
0.88% |
1.27% |
As to the highest degree obtained overseas, about 56% of Chinese students got master's degrees and 38% got bachelor's degrees. An increasing number of students chose to study overseas for bachelor's degrees.
| Degrees obtained overseas |
|||
| Degree |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| High school |
0.43% |
0.00% |
0.20% |
| Associate |
1.58% |
1.88% |
1.74% |
| Bachelor |
40.17% |
35.63% |
37.75% |
| Master |
51.51% |
59.10% |
55.56% |
| Doctor |
3.87% |
1.25% |
2.48% |
| Others |
2.44% |
2.13% |
2.28% |
Returning to China
The top reasons for overseas Chinese to return to China were: to reunite with family and friends (67%); China's booming economic growth (40%); and unfavorable overseas economic, political and social environments, such as work and immigration policies (27%).
| Reasons for returning to China |
|||
| Reason |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Reunite with family and friends |
58% |
75% |
67% |
| China's booming economic growth |
47% |
35% |
40% |
| Unfavorable overseas economic, political and social environments (such as work and immigration policies) |
24% |
29% |
27% |
| Attached to Chinese culture and food |
19% |
27% |
23% |
| Studied major has a good development prospect in China |
17% |
12% |
14% |
| Has solid foundation for development in China |
12% |
14% |
13% |
| Willing to contribute to the country |
17% |
8% |
12% |
| Attractive policy for recruiting talent |
14% |
9% |
12% |
| Good environment for entrepreneurship |
10% |
8% |
9% |
| Others |
1% |
1% |
1% |
About 61% of returnees went back to their hometowns in China. The rest relocated mainly to developed areas, including Beijing (13%), Shanghai (8%) and Guangdong Province (7%). The pace of local economic growth was an important reference for overseas returnees in their relocation decisions. While Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong were attracting overseas returnees, the Northeast and Western China were losing overseas talent.
| Relocation destinations for returnees |
|
| Location |
Overall |
| Hometown |
60.78% |
| Beijing |
13.32% |
| Shanghai |
8.43% |
| Guangdong |
6.96% |
| Zhejiang |
1.47% |
| Jiangsu |
1.47% |
| Sichuan |
1.27% |
| Shaanxi |
1.00% |
In terms of overseas work experience, only 30% had no work experience. About 23% returned to China with 1 to 3 years of experience and more than 15% had over 3 years of experience.
| Overseas work experience |
|||
| Experience |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| No experience |
28.98% |
31.62% |
30.39% |
| Less than half year |
14.35% |
14.30% |
14.32% |
| Half to one year |
18.22% |
16.06% |
17.07% |
| 1 to 3 years |
23.10% |
22.96% |
23.03% |
| 3 to 6 years |
10.47% |
10.54% |
10.51% |
| Over 6 years |
4.88% |
4.52% |
4.69% |
Most Chinese returnees had no overseas entrepreneurship experience. Only 4% had successful entrepreneurship experience.
| Overseas entrepreneurship experience |
|||
| Experience |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| No experience |
79.05% |
89.08% |
84.40% |
| Failed experience |
14.92% |
8.53% |
11.51% |
| Successful experience |
6.03% |
2.38% |
4.08% |
In recent years, a "Talent War" was waged in some cities to help attract talent with favorable policies. About 65% of overseas returnees believed that the "Talent War" showed that local governments gave more importance and attention on talent, and 52% said more policy supports were needed for overseas returnees.
| Opinions on Tatent War among cities |
|||
| Opinion |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Such policies to attract talent show the increasing importance and attention giving to talent |
64% |
66% |
65% |
| More policy supports needed for overseas returnees |
52% |
51% |
52% |
| Such policies have impact on city choice for employment and entrepreneurship |
34% |
36% |
35% |
| Need longer time to see the effectiveness of such policies |
32% |
31% |
31% |
| Others |
2% |
2% |
2% |
Regarding which incentive policies were needed to attract overseas returnees, top choices included: raising salaries and benefits (65%), improving employment mechanisms for returnees (57%), and providing household registration and housing (36%).
| Suggested policies to attract overseas returnees |
|||
| Policy |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Raise salaries and benefits |
66% |
64% |
65% |
| Improve employment mechanism |
53% |
60% |
57% |
| Provide household registration and housing |
37% |
35% |
36% |
| Provide entrepreneurship mentoring |
25% |
28% |
27% |
| Establish platform for communications |
18% |
19% |
18% |
| Provide career development advice |
12% |
15% |
14% |
| Promote the government's incentive policies |
10% |
13% |
12% |
| Increase R&D investment |
11% |
10% |
11% |
| Reward returnees who make great contributions |
11% |
10% |
11% |
| Strengthen IPR protection |
9% |
7% |
8% |
| Create sound environment governing by law |
6% |
8% |
7% |
| Provide social inclusion support |
6% |
4% |
5% |
| Improve system for technology conversion |
6% |
3% |
4% |
| Others |
1% |
0% |
0% |
Employment for returnees
According to the survey, about 72% of overseas returnees were currently employed, 5% were starting their own businesses and 16% were looking for jobs.
| Employment status of overseas returnees |
|||
| Status |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Employed |
71.77% |
72.60% |
72.16% |
| Seeking jobs |
18.57% |
13.92% |
16.40% |
| Starting own business |
3.51% |
6.17% |
4.75% |
| Others |
6.15% |
7.31% |
6.69% |
When seeking employment in China, overseas returnees believes they had advantages in: language and cross-culture communications; global perspective; more adaptable and independent; and critical thinking capability.
| Advantages in seeking employment |
|||
| Advantage |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Language and cross-culture communications |
71% |
74% |
73% |
| Global perspective |
60% |
58% |
59% |
| More adaptable and independent |
33% |
40% |
37% |
| Critical thinking capability |
25% |
25% |
25% |
| Understand overseas market and can help build up brand and sales channels overseas |
15% |
17% |
16% |
| More innovative |
17% |
14% |
16% |
| Strong social interaction skills |
13% |
13% |
13% |
| International cooperation |
12% |
11% |
12% |
| Professional advantage |
11% |
11% |
11% |
| Help to improve working ability |
5% |
8% |
6% |
| Contribute to job promotion |
4% |
3% |
3% |
| Easy to learn overseas technology |
3% |
3% |
3% |
| Easy to hire overseas R&D talent and partner |
2% |
2% |
2% |
| Easy to get overseas VC |
1% |
0% |
0% |
When looking for jobs, 49% of returnees applied through recruitment websites and APPs, 22% sent resumes directly to their target companies, and 19% relied on recommendations from their families and friends.
| Job-seeking channels |
|||
| Channel |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Recruitment websites and APPs |
44.27% |
53.15% |
48.98% |
| Applying directly to target companies |
26.68% |
17.66% |
21.89% |
| Recommendations by families and friends |
17.59% |
20.28% |
19.02% |
| Headhunters and HR intermediaries |
4.35% |
3.50% |
3.90% |
| Offline job fairs |
2.57% |
1.05% |
1.76% |
| Social media postings |
1.38% |
1.57% |
1.48% |
| Overseas recruitment activities by government and companies |
1.19% |
1.57% |
1.39% |
| Others |
1.19% |
0.87% |
1.02% |
| Civil service examination and other government channels |
0.79% |
0.35% |
0.56% |
About 42% of overseas returnees could find jobs within one month after they came back to China, and 41% could find employment in one to three months.
| Time needed to find employment |
|||
| Time |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Within 1 month |
42.69% |
40.91% |
41.74% |
| 1 to 3 months |
40.12% |
41.61% |
40.91% |
| 4 to 6 months |
12.45% |
12.76% |
12.62% |
| 7 to 12 months |
2.17% |
3.32% |
2.78% |
| Over 1 years |
2.57% |
1.40% |
1.95% |
Top industries that hired overseas returnees included finance, communications, software and IT services, manufacturing, education, and wholesale and retail.
| Top ten industries for overseas returnees |
|||
| Industry |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Finance |
16.80% |
11.71% |
14.10% |
| Communications, software and IT services |
12.65% |
13.81% |
13.27% |
| Manufacturing |
14.82% |
9.27% |
11.87% |
| Education |
6.92% |
15.21% |
11.32% |
| Wholesale and retail |
7.31% |
8.04% |
7.70% |
| Culture, sports and entertainment |
4.15% |
10.31% |
7.42% |
| Leasing and business services |
5.53% |
6.82% |
6.22% |
| R&D and technology services |
5.53% |
3.85% |
4.64% |
| Real estate |
5.34% |
3.67% |
4.45% |
| Construction |
4.94% |
2.80% |
3.80% |
In terms of salary, about 33% of overseas returnees had a pre-tax monthly salary below RMB6,000, 25% had a monthly salary of RMB6,001 to 8,000, and 15% earned RMB8,001 to 10,000 per month.
| Salaries for overseas returnees |
|||
| Pre-tax salary (RMB) |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Below 6,000 |
31.42% |
34.62% |
33.12% |
| 6,001 to 8,000 |
23.12% |
26.05% |
24.68% |
| 8,001 to 10,000 |
19.37% |
11.36% |
15.12% |
| 10,001 to 15,000 |
14.43% |
14.86% |
14.66% |
| 15,001 to 20,000 |
6.32% |
6.64% |
6.49% |
| 20,001 to 30,000 |
3.56% |
3.50% |
3.53% |
| 30,001 to 50,000 |
1.19% |
1.57% |
1.39% |
| Above 50,000 |
0.59% |
1.40% |
1.02% |
About 80% of overseas returnees were not satisfied with their salaries. Among them, 49% said their salaries were below expectations, and 31% said their salaries were far below expectations.
| Salary and expectation for overseas returnees |
|||
| Comparison |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Salary far below expectation |
31.42% |
31.29% |
31.35% |
| Salary below expectation |
49.60% |
48.08% |
48.79% |
| Salary matches expectation |
18.18% |
19.41% |
18.83% |
| Salary above expectation |
0.59% |
1.05% |
0.83% |
| Salary far above expectation |
0.20% |
0.17% |
0.19% |
Entrepreneurship for returnees
Among those returnees who started their own businesses, nearly half did so in 2017, compared with 18% in 2016 and 9% in 2015.
| Time to start own business |
|
| Time |
Percentage |
| Before 2015 |
25.35% |
| 2015 |
8.45% |
| 2016 |
18.31% |
| 2017 |
47.89% |
The top five industries that overseas returnees chose to start businesses were communications, software and IT services, wholesale and retail, education, manufacturing, and leasing and business services.
| Top five industries to start own business |
|
| Industry |
Percentage |
| Communications, software and IT services |
16.90% |
| Wholesale and retail |
15.49% |
| Education |
11.27% |
| Manufacturing |
8.45% |
| Leasing and business services |
8.45% |
For their entrepreneurship endeavors, the supports they needed were: market development (41%); favorable environment for entrepreneurship (35%); financial services (34%); and entrepreneurship mentoring (25%).
| Supports needed for entrepreneurship |
|||
| Support |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| Market development |
33% |
54% |
41% |
| Favorable environment for entrepreneurship |
37% |
32% |
35% |
| Financial services |
37% |
29% |
34% |
| Entrepreneurship mentoring |
21% |
32% |
25% |
| HR services |
23% |
14% |
20% |
| Patent protection |
19% |
11% |
15% |
| R&D |
7% |
25% |
14% |
| Legal support |
12% |
11% |
11% |
| Management consulting services |
5% |
14% |
8% |
| Tax incentives |
12% |
4% |
8% |
| Technology transfer |
9% |
4% |
7% |
| Other supporting policies |
5% |
0% |
3% |
The challenges these entrepreneurs were facing included: high operation cost (56%); unfamiliarity with domestic market (38%); and difficulty raising capital (37%).
| Challenges for entrepreneurship |
|||
| Challenge |
Male |
Female |
Overall |
| High operation cost |
44% |
75% |
56% |
| Unfamiliarity with domestic market |
35% |
43% |
38% |
| Difficulty raising capital |
40% |
32% |
37% |
| Related entrepreneurial services not in place |
28% |
25% |
27% |
| Government related policies not complete |
21% |
21% |
21% |
| Difficult for technology conversion |
14% |
11% |
13% |
| Not supported by domestic R&D |
12% |
4% |
8% |
| Difficult for international expansion |
7% |
4% |
6% |
| Others |
2% |
0% |
1% |
Overseas.zhaopin.com is Zhaopin's overseas talent recruitment business, helping bridge China's companies with overseas talent through online recruitment, campus activities and job fairs. Overseas.zhaopin.com has accumulated deep understanding of local company overseas recruiting demand, and helps overseas returnees identify suitable career development path. It is also a member of The Network, the world's largest online recruitment alliance, which covers 138 countries with 59 HR service providers and over 356 million resumes.
For more information, please contact:
Zhaopin Limited
Ms. Serena Sun
[email protected]
ICR Beijing
Mr. Edmond Lococo
Phone: +86 10 6583-7510
[email protected]
SOURCE Zhaopin Limited
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