China's employment outlook for the fourth quarter ranked first globally with half of its employers planning to hire more staff, according to a report released by employment service provider Manpower Inc on Tuesday.

The outlook marked the sixth straight quarter of growth since the third quarter of 2009, and is the strongest since China was first included in the quarterly employment outlook survey in the second quarter of 2005.

About 53 percent of employers intend to increase their workforces in the fourth quarter - a "considerable" improvement of 22 percentage points compared to the third quarter, said the report.

Manpower interviewed 4,194 companies in the mainland to measure employers' intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their organizations between October and December.

The percentage of employers who expect to reduce their headcount in the upcoming quarter stands at 2 percent.

Removing seasonal variations, the Net Employment Outlook, the difference between the percentage of those who plan to increase their workforce and those who plan to reduce their headcount, stands at 47 percent for the mainland, a 16 percentage point increase quarter-over-quarter and 39 percentage points stronger compared with the same period of 2009.

"Many enterprises in which no changes in workforces were anticipated in the third quarter, have now decided to add to their workforces in the fourth quarter, which demonstrates that employer confidence continues to grow," said Yuan Jianhua, managing director of Manpower China, adding that job seekers would benefit from the most vigorous hiring pace that Chinese employers have ever reported.

At least 60 percent of employers plan to add to their workforces in Hangzhou, Chengdu, Changsha and Suzhou, showing the strongest rebound among the 16 cities surveyed in China.

Influenced by Guangzhou Asian Games in November, the service sector employers reported the strongest fourth-quarter hiring intentions with an employment outlook of 51 percent, said the report.

An accelerating hiring pace is also expected in finance, insurance and real estate, as well as in the wholesale and retail trade sectors.

Employers in mining and construction appear to be slightly less optimistic, but still anticipate a brisk hiring pace with an outlook of 38 percent.

The transportation and utilities sectors report the sharpest improvement both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, by 23 and 42 percentage points, said Manpower.

Su Hainan, deputy head of China Labor Association, said the rise did not fully reflect the economic situation nationwide, despite pointing to increased structural demand in some regions and industries.

"The economic uncertainties are clear and usually changes in the human resources market lag behind the overall economic situation by two to three months."

He said the country's employment pressures remain huge with talent supply far exceeding demand, and the employment situation may fluctuate due to domestic and global factors.

Manpower interviewed over 61,000 employers in companies around the globe. Employers in the Asia-Pacific and Americas regions reported positive hiring intentions, while job prospects remain mixed in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

(China Daily September 9, 2010)