Manpowergroup China S Annual Talent Shortage Survey Reveals

Under embargo to 22 July 2015 (00.01 GMT) Please download 2015 Talent Shortage Survey Report through ManpowerGroup China Website: Thought-leadership-Survey Report

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ManpowerGroup China’s Annual Talent Shortage Survey Reveals Employers Suffer Talent Shortages in Technicians, Sales Representatives and Sales Managers

Talent shortages on the rise globally, over half of employers indicate similar difficulty in filling jobs year-over-year locally

– 24% Mainland China employers are suffering talent shortage, but with no change when compared year-over-year. – The top 3 jobs employers are having difficulty to fill in 2015 in Mainland China are Technicians, Sales Representatives and Sales Managers. – Explore new talent sources, implement alternative work models and adopt people practices are main strategies to address talent shortage.

July 22th, 2015 China· Shanghai——ManpowerGroup, the world leader in innovative workforce solutions, released 2015 talent shortage survey result, revealing that mainly due to environmental/market factors (35%) such as lack of available applicants/no applicants, about 24% Mainland China employers are still suffering talent shortage, 53% employers indicate that they have similar difficulty in filling jobs when compared to last year at this time.

ManpowerGroup surveyed over 41,000 employers across 42 countries and territories, including 2,004 from Mainland China, during the first quarter of 2015 to gauge the impact of talent shortages on the global workforce market. It’s the 10th annual Talent Shortage Survey hosted by ManpowerGroup, not only to find out what kind of difficulties employers are facing in order to fill the available positions, but also dig out the reasons why organizations are suffering the talent shortage and what strategies they are adopting to overcome these challenges.

“Technology is evolving faster than ever, changing the skills needed for jobs and shortening the life cycle of those skills. Still, there is a growing mismatch of in-demand skills with talent supplies,” said Mr. Zhang Jinrong, Managing Director of ManpowerGroup China. “Talent shortages not only bring impact on companies’ capabilities, but also hinder the innovation development in China. What employers should do is to find the right talent externally, as well as foster a learning culture within their organizations and encourage employees to own their careers.”

The top 3 jobs employers are having difficulty to fill in 2015 in Mainland China are Technicians, Sales Representatives and Sales Managers. It should be noted that Sales Representatives and Sales Managers rank on the top three again.

Top 10 jobs employers are having difficulty filling in Mainland China as follows (ranking according to the difficulty):

2015 2014 Top 10 jobs employers are having difficulty filling Top 10 jobs employers are having difficulty filling 1. Technicians 1. Skilled Trades 2. Sales Representatives Sales Representatives 2. 3. Sales Managers 3. Sales Managers 4. Technicians Page 2 of 5

4. Management / Executive 5. Engineers 6. Management/Executive Laborers 5. 7. Production Operators/Machine Operators 6. Skilled Trades 8. IT Staff 7. Engineers 9. Researchers (R&D) 10. Secretaries, Personal Assistants, Administrative 8. IT Personnel Assistants & Office Support Staff 9. Production Operators/Machine Operators 10.Researchers (R&D) Source: ManpowerGroup China

As for the Top 10 jobs employers are having difficulty filling stated above, environmental/market factors is the major reason of hard-to-fill vacancies in Mainland China, in these factors lack of available applicants/no applicants is most highlighted one, accounting for 31%. Followed by workplace competencies (soft skills), such as lack of experience and professionalism (includes personal appearance/attire, punctuality, presentation skills, etc.), as well as technical competencies (hard skills) and organisational factors, such as looking for more pay than is offered.

Talent shortages/skills gaps have some impacts on companies. The survey shows the most common impact companies reported is reduced competitiveness/productivity (33%), followed by reduced innovation and creativity (22%) and increased employee turnover (20%). According to the survey, 68% employers reporting a talent shortage say it is having a medium-to-high impact on their ability to meet client needs, with only 12% employers say it has no impact to meet client needs.

Source: ManpowerGroup China Chinese employers adopt a range of strategies to address talent shortages, 33% mainland China employers interviewed is to explore new talent sources, including adapting talent sourcing to recruit more untapped talent pools (23%), appointing people who don’t have the skills currently, but do have potential to learn and grow (10%) etc., followed by implement alternative work models, which takes up 14%. Page 3 of 5

Source: ManpowerGroup China

“China’s latest initiative of One Belt and One Road has encouraged Chinese companies to go global and expand investments overseas, thus a great need of talents with both foreign and Chinese backgrounds are imperative.” Mr. Zhang Jinrong said “In 2015, nearly 7.5 million graduates will enter the Chinese job market, increased almost 3% year-over-year. Increasing graduates are facing the shrinking job market with ever-changing in-demand skills. Under the background of China's One Belt and One Road Initiative, universities and colleges should provide more language programs and cooperate with companies to nurture right talents with high competencies. Recently, ManpowerGroup China cooperated with Renmin University of China , the leading university locally, to carry out the Junior Achievement project To Be One-Day Assistant in ManpowerGroup Shanghai office, which helped freshmen to understand what real workplace looks like and what knowledge/skills should be addressed during their college life for their career sailing. ”

In Greater China region (Including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), 65 percent of employers in Hong Kong are experiencing difficulty finding staff with the right skills (up from 56 percent in 2014).The top 3 jobs employers are having difficulty to fill in 2015 in Hong Kong are Sales Representatives, Engineers and IT Personnel. And lack of available applicants or no applicants is the main reason for difficulty filling jobs in Hong Kong, accounting for 54%. To address the challenges, surveyed employers are adopting people practices (32%). In Taiwan, 57% Taiwan employers are suffering talent shortage, considerably increase 12% compared to last year. The top 3 jobs employers are having difficulty to fill in 2015 in Taiwan are Sales Representatives, Technicians and Engineers, which is the same ranking for the third consecutive year. The largest proportion (45%) cited lack of available applicants/no applicants is the key reason for them to find talents in difficulties, evidently increase 14% Page 4 of 5

year-over-year. And one of the major strategies leveraged by employers is to adopt people practices, accounting for42%.

Ms. Lancy Chui, Vice President of ManpowerGroup Greater China Region said, “Sales representatives have topped the list since 2007 so, clearly, little headway is being made. A strong sales force is critical to driving revenue growth and solutions to this endemic difficulty need to be addressed.”

2015 Top 10 Jobs Employers Are Having Difficulty Filling-Greater China Mainland China Hong Kong Taiwan 24% (→0% Y-O-Y) 65% (↑9% Y-O-Y) 57% (↑12% Y-O-Y) 1. Technicians Sales Representatives Sales Representatives 2. Sales Representatives Engineers Technicians 3. Sales Managers IT Personnel Engineers 4. Management / Executive Sales Managers Researchers (R&D) 5. Laborers Accounting & finance staff Production Operators/Machine Operators 6. Skilled Trades Cleaners & Domestic staff Management / Executive (Management/Corporate) 7. Engineers Drivers Drivers

8. IT Personnel Skilled Trades Skilled Trades 9. Production Technicians IT Personnel Operators/Machine Operators 10. Researchers (R&D) Laborers Secretaries, PAs, Receptionists, Administrative assistants & Office support staff

“IT candidates with the right skills are still in demand. Business agility also requires technology to enhance efficiency and productivity. As such, the evolution of business requirement has relied significantly on IT outsourcing where employers require IT Personnel to possess strong communications skills to work with internal department and IT vendors.” said Ms. Chui.

Globally, skills shortages around the world show no signs of abating, 38% global employers cannot find the talent they need, which is the highest proportion of global employers struggling to fill jobs at seven- year high.

Hiring managers report the most severe talent shortage in Japan (83 percent). Around two in three employers report difficulty filling jobs in both Peru (68 percent) and Hong Kong (65 percent), while talent shortages are an issue for 61 percent of employers in both Brazil and Romania.

Across all 42 countries and territories as a whole, employers report that Skilled Trades vacancies are the hardest to fill, as was the case in each of the previous three years. However, the second hardest job to fill has changed from 2014, with Sales Representative roles rising up the list from fourth, meaning that the Engineer category slips from second to third and the Technician category from third to fourth this year.

Employers report considerably more difficulty recruiting Drivers in 2015, with the category climbing the rankings from 10th to fifth, while the Production/Machine Operator category is new to the top 10 this year, climbing from 12th to 10th. Moving in the other direction, the Sales manager category slips out of the top 10 in 2015.

Full results of ManpowerGroup’s tenth annual Talent Shortage Survey, can be downloaded at: http://cn.manpowergroup.com/Research_Report.html

For more details on the talent shortages around the world, including an interactive data explorer tool, an infographic and thought leadership blogs, visit ManpowerGroup’s new Talent Shortage microsite. Page 5 of 5

Note to Editors

ManpowerGroup surveyed over 41,000 employers in 42 countries and territories during the first quarter of 2015 to explore the extent of talent shortages within the global labor market, which job categories are particularly hard to fill and why, the impact of talent shortages on businesses, and how employers are responding to the challenges raised by the lack of available talent in specific job categories.

In this survey, skilled trade workers vary widely. They must obtain unique techniques, only through practical operations for a period of time. Skilled trades include: bakers, chefs, electrician, carpenter, welder, bricklayer, tiler, plasters, plumbers, cabinet makers, masons, tanners. Many such occupations are connected with the building and construction industries. Technicians usually relates to technicians in engineering/technical, production/operations or maintenance roles.

About ManpowerGroup China As workforce expert, we have rooted in China for more than 20 years, providing comprehensive human resource solutions through our local expertise as well as combination of global resources and experience.

ManpowerGroup China boasts over 5,000 multinational and local companies, and increases over 5,000,000 selected middle-to-senior managing talents every year. We provide customized solutions for companies to fit their talent needs and achieve business strategic goals, including recruitment services, employment services, talent management and talent strategy. Also our products and services cover talents career cycle, including job seeking, job consultation, career development, skill advancement and career transition. In 2015, ManpowerGroup China was awarded “Asia-Pacific Human Resources Service Leading Enterprise Award” and “Customer Satisfaction Award for HR Service in Greater China”.

ManpowerGroup provides comprehensive solutions for companies and individuals through ManpowerGroup Solutions, Experis, Manpower, Caden, Right Management and two investments in China ReachHR and XAFesco.

ManpowerGroup China, as a socially responsible organization, took the ownership to build and operate Manpower Ningqiang Elementary School in China Wenchuan, the hit area of the 5.12 earthquake. For more information about ManpowerGroup China, please visit: cn.manpowergroup.com -END-