Until the 1980’s, employment in China was planned and
administered by the state who monopolized the allocation of jobs.
However, the employment policy of China has changed drastically
since the implementation of the open-door policy and the economic
reform. This study, sampled in Hong Kong (510 respondents),
Beijing (520 respondents), Shanghai (534 respondents) and
Guangzhou (499 respondents), looks into the views of the young
people of the four places in four main areas: career choice, job
evaluation, work attitudes and future prospects. Many questions
yielded very useful findings, such as what are the young
people’s preferred careers? What organizations would they like
to work for? What do they think about taking on extra part-time
work? What kind of attitudes to their work do the young people in
the four cities have? Do they have confidence in their future? A
must read good reference.
Major findings:
Young people in Hong Kong and Mainland China share the
view that a high salary and good career prospects are the
main criteria for choosing a job;
About one third of Hong Kong respondents think that
working in government organizations will give them the
most benefits in the future. By contrast, in general,
young people in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou would
prefer to start their own business, or work in private
enter-prises or foreign-owned enterprises;
Nearly one fourth of the Hong Kong and Mainland
respondents said the city they were living in did not
provide them with an equal opportunity to develop their
career. Most of the youth said that interpersonal
relationships were the main cause of the unfair
situation:
Most young people in the four cities would rather be
offered an ideal job than the opportunity to emigrate.
Hong Kong respondents have the highest proportion who
would opt for this choice. However, 22 per cent of Hong
Kong youth, 20 per cent of Guangzhou youth, 30 per cent
of Shanghai youth and 21 per cent of Beijing youth would
prefer to emigrate than to be offered an ideal job.
Young people in Hong Kong and those in Mainland China
evaluate their personal financial situation very
differently. Although most Hong Kong young people are
satisfied with their current financial situation, many of
them are pessimistic about the economic situation in Hong
Kong in the next three years. More than 40 per cent think
that it will get worse. In contrast, whereas a majority
of respondents from Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing are
not satisfied with their financial situation, most of
them are confident of China's future economy.
Respondents of Hong Kong and Main-land China have similar
career preferences, most of them opting for one of the
professions such as that of teacher, lawyer, doctor and
designer. In China, becoming an administrator or manager
is also regarded as a good career choice whereas the top
job chosen by a tenth of the Guangzhou youth is that of
cadre.
As for equipping oneself for a better future, more than
55 per cent of the Hong Kong respondents said they would
try to obtain higher education qualifications and
increase their profes-sional knowledge. It was also
pointed out by 15 per cent of Hong Kong youth that
improving their language competence would be helpful for
their future. In comparison with their Hong Kong
counterparts, youth on the Mainland put more emphasis on
increasing their technological know-how and having
special skills.
As far as job evaluation is concerned, more that 80 per
cent of Hong Kong respondents said they were satisfied
with their present jobs while over half of the young
people interviewed in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou
respectively claimed dissatisfac-tion.;
Generally speaking, they are dissatisfied with their low
salaries, the bad prospects of their jobs and the
insignificant benefits provided by their work units. The
major source of job satisfaction was deemed by at least
one in ten Mainland youth to be their "contribution
to society." Finding the job interesting is another
important source of satisfaction;
It also appears that youth in the four cities have
certain expectations of fringe benefits provided by their
work units. The Mainland youth emphasized the importance
of a housing allow-ance and medical care whereas the Hong
Kong respondents regarded a medical allowance and
retirement pension as more important.
京滬穗港青年比較研究系列(四地)＜五＞