Zhaopin: Chinese White-collar Workers Experiencing Anxiety and Loneliness

BEIJING, May 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Zhaopin Limited ("Zhaopin" or the "Company"), a leading career platform in China focused on matching talent with skills and opportunities through their career lifecycle, today released 2018 Research Report on the Living Status of White-collar Workers. The report found that the majority of white-collar workers in China were experiencing anxiety and loneliness.

Based on survey of nearly 20,000 white-collar workers in China, the report presents the status of their living situation, health condition, mentality and career expectations.

Highlights of living status for which-collar workers:

• About 45.1% of white-collar workers were renting apartments, and 22.2% bought their own condominiums with mortgages.
• For their daily commute, 55% of white-collar workers took public transportation, 17.7% drove private cars and 10.3% rode bicycles.
• Nearly 70% of white-collar workers believed they were healthy or very healthy, and 54.7% enjoyed good or very good sleep with no insomnia.
• About 52.9% of white-collar workers experienced feelings of loneliness in their daily lives. Having no companion or friends were the top reasons for feeling lonely.
• Anxiety has become part of the daily lives for white-collar workers. More than 90% of them felt anxiety often or occasionally. "Low salary" and "no clear career path" were the top causes for anxiety.
• Nearly 70% of white-collar workers were dissatisfied with their salaries, and believed that their current salaries were below their expectations and did not match their skills.
• For the next 12 months, 36.6% of white-collar workers would seek to change jobs and 17.3% hoped for a promotion with pay rise.

LIFE

About 45% of white-collar workers rent apartments

According to Zhaopin's survey, 45.1% of white-collar workers were renting apartments. The percentage was even higher in first-tier cities with 68.8% in Shenzhen and 58.6% in Beijing. Also 22.2% of white-collar workers bought their own condominiums with mortgages.

About 70% of white-collar workers spent less than RMB20 for lunch on average each day, for a meal as simple as a lunch box, a bowl of noodles, or a sandwich. White-collar workers in finance and culture/media/entertainment/sports sectors normally spent more on lunch, as they had higher salaries and worked in downtown areas.

For their daily commute, 55% of white-collar workers took public transportation, while 17.7% drove private cars and 10.3% rode bicycles.

Confident in health and enjoying good sleep

Nearly 70% of white-collar workers believed they were healthy or very healthy, and 27.5% thought that they were not in healthy condition.

Reasons for being unhealthy included an irregular work/rest schedule and often staying up late, according to 29.1 percent of workers, while 28.4% believed it was caused by lack of a proper workout.

About 54.7% of white-collar workers enjoyed good or very good sleep without any insomnia.

WORK

Feeling lonely and anxious

With the fast pace of work and life, about 52.9% of white-collar workers experienced feelings of loneliness in their daily lives.

Having no companion or friends were the top reasons for white-collar workers to feel lonely. The environment and mainstream culture also contributed to their loneliness.

Nearly 40% of white-collar workers believed that "making money" could help them ease loneliness, which seemed to imply that their loneliness was actually caused by financial insecurities.

Anxiety has become part of the daily lives for white-collar workers in China. According to Zhaopin's survey, more than 90% of them felt anxiety often or occasionally.

"Low salary" and "no clear career path" were the top causes for anxiety among white-collar workers. Heavy economic burdens, including supporting parents, children's education and mortgages, made them even more anxious.

Nearly 70% dissatisfied with salaries

Nearly 70% of white-collar workers were dissatisfied with their salaries and believed that their current salaries were below their expectations and did not match their skills.

"Salary below expectations" was also white-collar workers' biggest source of dissatisfaction towards their jobs, according to Zhaopin's survey.

As to reasons for their below-expected salaries, 40.9% of white-collar workers said their competences were not recognized by their companies. High living costs also made their salaries appeared deficient in comparison.

Zhaopin found in its survey that 34.5% of white-collar workers had never received a pay raise, and another 31% got pay increases below 10% recently.

For their plans for the next 12 months, 36.6% of white-collar workers would seek to change jobs and 17.3% hoped for promotion with a pay raise.

For more information, please contact:

Zhaopin Limited
Ms. Serena Sun
[email protected]

ICR Beijing
Mr. Edmond Lococo
Phone: +86 10 6583-7510
[email protected]

SOURCE Zhaopin Limited