Higher recruitment salaries offered in China's eastern, southern cities

Companies in China's eastern and southern cities offered higher recruitment salaries in the fourth quarter of 2023, with positions requiring financial knowledge or technology background offering higher pay, according to a recent survey by a recruitment portal.

The report, based on surveys by recruitment portal Zhaopin, shows that the nation's 38 major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, offered an average recruitment salary of 10,420 yuan ($1,453) per month in the fourth quarter of last year — 3 percent higher than the previous quarter but 1.3 percent lower than during the same period in 2022.

Of the 38 major cities, Shanghai companies offered the highest recruitment salaries during all four quarters of last year. During the fourth quarter, the average recruitment salary was 13,888 yuan per month.

Beijing companies posted the second-highest recruitment salaries in the fourth quarter, 13,352 yuan monthly, and Shenzhen placed third with 13,067 yuan monthly, according to the report.

Most of the cities that placed in the top 10 in terms of monthly recruitment salaries in the fourth quarter — all above 10,000 yuan — are located in the nation's eastern and southern provinces, including Suzhou and Nanjing in Jiangsu province and Guangzhou and Zhuhai in Guangdong.

Conversely, cities in the northern and northeastern provinces, including Harbin in Heilongjiang province, Shenyang in Liaoning province and Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, offered much lower recruitment salaries in the fourth quarter — roughly 8,000 yuan per month.

The report said that jobs requiring strong knowledge of finance and technology, such as investment consultants and artificial intelligence engineers, offered much higher salaries. An AI engineer, for example, earned about 22,788 yuan per month on average in the fourth quarter.

Zhaopin said that the job market started showing some new changes brought by the improving economy at the end of the year, but it reminded job seekers to adjust their expectations when applying for work, as recruitment salaries may change during different periods.