Foreign influx

In recent years, more and more university graduates from Japan and other Asia countries have found, or come looking for, a job in Shanghai.

"What really worries us is that the local labour market has undergone a significant impact from an influx of foreign workers," said Tu Kefeng, deputy director of Shanghai Foreigners' Employment Administrative Office.

Because of the sluggish labour market in their own countries, with some of the skills they offer and not asking for such high salaries, they really pose a challenge to local young white collar workers, especially university graduates, according to Tu.

There are now about 3,214 foreign people from 96 countries who have a regular job now in the city. The figure is much fewer than the 6,234 people registered in 1996, according to the office's statistics .

The statistics indicate that since 1996 a total of 6,000 people from Japan and over 2,000 from the US have worked in the city.

Over 60 per cent of them work in foreign-invested companies and 76 per cent of them are managers of a company or department. Others work in State-owned enterprises and schools for foreign children.

"Foreign people help the development of the city," said Tu who is also an official of Shanghai Municipal Labour and Social Security Bureau. "But not all foreign people are welcomed in the city." Only those with good skills and rich experience who are also urgently needed by the city are offered the opportunity to work here.

The city still strictly limits foreign labourers coming into the local labour market.

Since 1996, the country has regulated that all foreign people who want to seek a job in the Chinese market must pass the approval of the local labour department and obtain an employment certification.

"Such a procedure is regarded as essential in many countries such as the US and Britain to protect the domestic labour market," said Tu.

But a small number of foreign people still manage to sneak into the local labour market without official permission, with the aim of avoiding income tax even though the offence is treated very seriously, the official said.

Shanghai Star