Talent shortage hampers FTZ

A survey has found that the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) is suffering from a shortage of high-level talent in the field of finance, local media reported Monday.

Towers Watson, a consulting company, surveyed FTZ enterprises about their labor needs on behalf of the Shanghai Committee of the Communist Party of China, according to a report in the Youth Daily.

About 8,000 enterprises have registered in the FTZ, about 10 percent of which are foreign enterprises. About 1,000 of the enterprises specialize in investment and finance. Most of the others are in international trade, which has created huge demand for qualified employees in finance and international trade, said Yin Chen, secretary-general of the China (Shanghai) Free Trade Zone Comprehensive Research Centre at Fudan University.

The survey also found that enterprises in the FTZ lacked qualified employees in management and information technology.

The shortage of qualified employees reflects the shortcomings of Chinese universities, whose graduates lack the practical skills to meet the enterprises' high requirements, Yin told the Global Times.

Another reason why enterprises in the FTZ cannot find qualified employees is that most of them lack name recognition in China and do not offer satisfactory salaries, Yin said. Location is also a problem because the FTZ is far away from downtown Shanghai.

The survey found that 70 percent of the enterprises prefer returnees from foreign countries who have job experience in finance, marketing, international trade or logistics.

These people understand the new rules governing international investment and trade, which will help the FTZ catch up with global trends in these fields, Yin said.

To educate more qualified employees, the report advised local universities to cooperate with enterprises to train students in specific industries.

Enterprises can provide students with internships, which will help improve their skills. However, there is still a long way to go before enterprises will benefit from this process, so they may hesitate before investing in an internship program, said Yu Liying, a professor with the School of Management at Shanghai University.

Yin told the Global Times that the government and related industry associations ought to serve as a bridge between universities and enterprises.