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August 5, 2009

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

An ideal city to live and work in

By Dong Hui and Xu Wenwen | August 5, 2009, Wednesday | Print Edition

A recent survey has found that, after Shanghai and Beijing, Hangzhou is many people's city of choice to land a job. More than one-fifth of employees on the Chinese mainland say they would move there if there were suitable employment opportunities. Dong Hui and Xu Wenwen report. Hangzhou is the third most-preferred destination for work on the Chinese mainland, higher than Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Nanjing, according to a latest survey released by Manpower Inc.

The report, based on interviews with 1,070 employees on the Chinese mainland, showed that 21 percent would consider relocating to Hangzhou for one or two years if there were suitable job opportunities, mainly due to its pleasant living environment.

"The figure for Hangzhou was higher than we expected, as we thought Guangzhou would be more attractive," says Zhu Luping, media coordinator with Manpower Inc.

The willingness to relocate to Hangzhou follows Shanghai, 46 percent, and Beijing, 36 percent, two cities standing out from the others due to their robust economy and higher salaries, the report says.

"Hangzhou's pleasant living environment and atmosphere are a major factor in its attraction," says Zhu Yijuan, human resources director from Manpower Inc.

Some 75 percent of respondents say they preferred Hangzhou for its living environment, the highest of all cities.

The city also has many private businesses, such as Alibaba, an online B2B marketplace, and that is another reason for people choosing it, Zhu adds.

"The city makes it easy for me to create my own business, plus the living environment attracts me to stay," says Ren Xing, CEO of Hangzhou Zhongbo Exhibition Co, who settled down in Hangzhou more than a decade ago.

Hangzhou absorbs about 50,000 non-local employees every year on average and more than a half are graduates like Ren, according to the Hangzhou Talents Service Center.

The majority of employees who preferred to relocate to Hangzhou were from Shanghai, according to the Manpower report.

"China has enjoyed relatively stable growth despite the financial turmoil, encouraging many foreign companies to maintain their determination to invest in China," says Yuan Jianhua, managing director of Manpower's Chinese operation. "Due to the increasing operational costs and fiercer competition in the first-tier cities, many multinationals are relocating their businesses to emerging cities, stimulating the demand for talent in these areas and promoting mobility."

Employees from other cities, including Ningbo, Suzhou and Nanjing, also say they would like to move to Hangzhou to work, according to the report.

Employees from big cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou are more willing to relocate to neighboring cities or to other first-tier cities, while talent from central and western regions prefer to find employment opportunities in the eastern coastal areas, the report says.

Hangzhou has nearly 10,000 foreigners, according to statistics from the Hangzhou Service Center of Scholarly Exchange, and more than 4,000 overseas returnees are working there, according to Hangzhou Exit-Entry Administration.

"I'm going to start my own career in Hangzhou because the city is a potential developing city full of ambition," says Angel Savaro, an Italian who transferred from Hong Kong and used to work in a five-star hotel in Hangzhou. "I will open a Western-style restaurant later this year."

"I came to Hangzhou four years ago, when house prices were climbing steadily," says Yang Jingxiong, general manager of Golden Nest Club who relocated from Hong Kong. "I felt Hangzhou was like Hong Kong in the 1980s, developing fast and offering a competitive business environment."

The city is most attractive to office administration, accounting and finance talent, the report says. But enterprises in Hangzhou are finding it hard to attract suitable IT talent, according to Zhu, Manpower's HR director.

"When people actually face relocation, they'll still have to think about it," Zhu says.

Hangzhou


 

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