BEIJING, Aug. 27 -- Shenzhen employers raised their
salaries by about 10 percent at a weekend job fair at Shenzhen Convention and
Exhibition Center to help jobseekers meet rising prices of food and housing
in the city.
"An engineer will now ask for a monthly salary of
more than 6,000 yuan (789 U.S. dollars), at least 1,000 yuan higher than that of
a couple of years ago. We have raised the annual salary of a senior engineer
from 80,000-100,000 yuan to 120,000-150,000 yuan," said Chen Lu, a human
resources director with Dongju Electronics Co.
Ms. Zhang, a human resources director with
Shenzhen-based software company ABAS, said the company also raised its salaries
by more than 10 percent.
Engineers and senior technicians remained top of the
wanted list of the employers.
An employer with Shenzhen-based Han's Laser
Technology Co. Ltd. also said the company had raised subsidies offered to its
employees.
"Living costs have increased and so of course I would
demand a higher salary," said jobseeker Mr. Chen, who earns 4,000 yuan a month
and is looking for a job with a monthly salary of 5,000 to 6,000 yuan.
Despite the increased salaries, employers have found
it increasingly difficult to hire the professionals they need. "Many
professionals have turned to the Yangtze River Delta, which offers more
attractive salaries," said Chen Lu.
Han's Laser offered more than 400 vacancies for
engineers at the job fair, but had few applicants, said Liu Liu with the
company's human resources department.
Zhang with ABAS also said the company could not get a
software engineer despite an annual salary of more than 50,000 yuan.
About 25,800 jobseekers attended the fair, competing
for 20,000 vacancies provided by 320 companies including local communications
giants Huawei and ZTE.
A cameraman walks on a road amidst smoke in the
village of Zacharo in south Peloponnese, about 350 kilometers from Athens on
Saturday. Greece's worst forest fires in decades have killed at least 51 people
and the death toll could rise.
(Source: Shenzhen Daily)
