Outlook bright for services job seekers

Survey reports big rise in number of companies planning to take on staff

Service sector employers have reported one of their most optimistic hiring periods in years, with nearly 25 percent planning to hire more staff over the next quarter, according to a survey from global recruitment company, the ManpowerGroup.

Its Employment Outlook Survey, covering the second quarter of the year, said its net employment outlook - which compared hiring and layoff figures - for the Chinese sector was +22 percent, meaning more employers planned to increase than cut staff, a quarterly increase of 4 percent compared to the first quarter.

The company produces localized surveys for many countries, and the exercise is considered one of the widest-recognized of its type.

Zhang Jinrong, managing director of ManpowerGroup China, said: "Vacancies are increasing in the nation's service sector as the central government aims to further boost its development in a bid to make its economy driven more by domestic consumption than by industrial investment and exports."

Within China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), the central government has prioritized improving the service sector to raise service levels and attract more talented staff to work in the sector.

The plan is to increase the added value of the sector by 4 percent, and add 4 percent more job opportunities by 2015.

In 2012, the added value of the service sector increased by 1.2 percent, 0.2 percent higher than expected.

"It is essential to boost the service industries and offer essential services for consumers to support the economic development of China gradually," Shi Zihai, head of the policy research office under the National Development and Reform Commission, said in an online interview on gov.cn and xinhuanet.com on Friday.

Service sector companies said government policies have started to have a positive effect on business.

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