Zhaopin: Nearly 60% of China White Collar Workers Seeking New Jobs

BEIJING, Oct. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Zhaopin Limited (NYSE: ZPIN) ("Zhaopin" or the "Company"), a leading career platform[1] in China focused on connecting users with relevant job opportunities throughout their career lifecycles, found in its fall 2016 survey that the confidence of white-collar workers continued to weaken, and nearly 60% were taking actions to change jobs.

With the coming high season for recruiting, Zhaopin conducted its fall research and survey in September 2016 to gauge white-collar workers' confidence in their careers and their intentions to switch jobs. The statistics were based on analysis of Zhaopin's data base for white-collar job applicants in the third quarter of 2016. More than 35,600 white collar workers participated in the nationwide survey.

Highlights of Zhaopin survey for fall 2016:

• The confidence of white-collar workers continued to decline, hitting a new low of 3.07
• Nearly 60% of white-collar workers were taking job-searching actions

Declining confidence

White-collar workers' confidence in their careers has been declining in 2016, reaching a new low of 3.07 in the fall of 2016, down from 3.26 in the spring of 2016. The confidence is measured from 1 to 5 with 5 as the highest. In the fall of 2016, only 13.2% of white collar workers were very confident in their careers, while 30.4% had low or no confidence.

Employees in private companies showed the lowest confidence, with an index of 3.04 in the survey, while workers in wholly foreign-owned enterprises had the highest index at 3.20. In terms of demographics, workers born after the 1990s were the least confident in their careers, with an index of 3.02, while 31.3% of them had low or no confidence in their careers and only 11.5% were very confident. The older the workers, the more confident they became, the survey found. Employees born in the 1960s were the most confident group, with an index of 3.57.

Xi'an (3.29) and Beijing (3.25) were the cities with the highest confidence index from white-collar workers. Employees in emerging first-tier cities, including Ningbo, Xiamen, Chongqing and Wuhan, also showed strong confidence in their careers.

Employees in the booming IT/telecom/electronics/internet sector were the most confident, with an index of 3.27. Confidence in energy/minerals/environment protection sector was the lowest with an index of 2.83. The higher the salaries, the more confident the white collar workers were, according to the survey. Workers with a salary of RMB15,001 to RMB20,000 per month had the highest confidence index of 3.65.

Nearly 60% of white-collar workers taking job-searching actions

Fall is traditionally the active season for job-searching. This year, nearly 60% of white-collar workers were taking actions to change jobs, the survey found. Among them, 14.4% were in the process of quitting or onboarding, and 44.4% were looking for new opportunities with updated resumes. 30.6% of white collar workers also indicated intention to switch jobs. Only 10.6% would not consider job-searching.

According to the survey, the most important reason for job-searching was salary, with 47.2% of white-collar workers deciding to change jobs because of unsatisfactory pay. Also, 36.5% of white-collar workers wanted to quit their jobs due to the uncertain prospects of their companies. Promotion limits and welfare packages were also key concerns for white collars to switch jobs.

Employees born after the 1980s were the most active job-searchers, with 58.9% taking actions, followed by 56.3% for post-1990s workers. The energy/minerals/environment protection sector suffered from the lowest confidence, and 63.4% of employees in that sector were trying to find new jobs.

White-collar workers in product, design and sales were more likely to switch jobs as more than 60% of employees were taking actions in these occupations.

Beijing (70.9%), Changchun (66.7%) and Tianjin (66.6%) were the top cities with the highest percentage of job-hoppers. Key provincial capital cities, including Hefei, Fuzhou, Shijiazhuang and Kunming, also saw high job market mobility as more white-collar workers looking for new opportunities.

About Zhaopin Limited

Zhaopin is a leading career platform in China, focusing on connecting users with relevant job opportunities throughout their career lifecycle. The Company's zhaopin.com website is the most popular career platform in China as measured by average daily unique visitors in each of the 12 months ended June 30, 2016, number of registered users as of June 30, 2016 and number of unique customers[2] for the three months ended June 30, 2016. The Company's over 120.0 million registered users include diverse and educated job seekers who are at various stages of their careers and are in demand by employers as a result of the general shortage of skilled and educated workers in China. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016, approximately 36.9 million job postings[3] were placed on Zhaopin's platform by 509,813 unique customers including multinational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises and state-owned entities. The quality and quantity of Zhaopin's users and the resumes in the Company's database attract an increasing number of customers. This in turn leads to more users turning to Zhaopin as their primary recruitment and career- related services provider, creating strong network effects and significant entry barriers for potential competitors. For more information, please visit http://www.zhaopin.com.

Safe Harbor Statements

Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Zhaopin may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Any statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Zhaopin's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements that involve factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but not limited to the following: Zhaopin's goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition and results of operations; its ability to retain and grow its user and customer base for its online career platform; the growth of, and trends in, the markets for its services in China; the demand for and market acceptance of its brand and services; competition in its industry in China; its ability to maintain the network infrastructure necessary to operate its website and mobile applications; relevant government policies and regulations relating to the corporate structure, business and industry; and its ability to protect its users' information and adequately address privacy concerns. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date of the press release, and Zhaopin does not undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For more information, please contact:

Zhaopin Limited 
Ms. Daisy Wang 
Investor Relations
[email protected]

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

[1] Zhaopin's website is the most popular career platform in China as measured by average daily unique visitors in each of the 12 months ended June 30, 2016, the number of registered users as of June 30, 2016 and the number of unique customers for the three months ended June 30, 2016.

[2] A "unique customer" refers to a customer that purchases the Company's online recruitment services during a specified period. Zhaopin makes adjustments for multiple purchases by the same customer to avoid double counting. Each customer is assigned a unique identification number in the Company's information management system. Affiliates and branches of a given customer may, under certain circumstances, be counted as separate unique customers.

[3] Zhaopin calculates the number of job postings by counting the number of newly placed job postings during each respective period. Job postings that were placed prior to a specified period - even if available during such period - are not counted as job postings for such period. Any particular job posting placed on the Company's website may include more than one job opening or position.

SOURCE Zhaopin Limited