June 1, 2007 -- According to the most recent report from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, China's major cities face shortages of skilled workers.
In Xi'an, for example, there were five computer and technical jobs for every applicant in the fourth quarter of last year. By comparison, there were three applicants for every security guard or administrative job, the report said.
In general, restaurant staff, mechanical machining employees, and marketing sales personnel were in high demand in 10 major cities surveyed. Business personnel, equipment operators and highway transportation workers, administration staff, manual laborers were in lesser demand, the ministry reported.
The cities surveyed include Chongqing, Jinan, Chengdu, Nanjing, Wuhan, Xi'an and Nanning as well as Tianjin and Shanghai.
The ministry also provided general employment statistics for a total of 101 cities for the fourth quarter of 2006. These cities, with 149 million total urban residents, had over 52 million employees, including self-employed workers.
Overall, the labor supply exceeded demand, the ministry reported, with 3.7 million job seekers and 3.5 million job openings.