Most Chinese prefer foreign firms: survey

16  January 2013

The majority of Chinese employees prefer to work for foreign companies, but employment at State-owned firms is growing in popularity, a survey has found.

China’s Most Desirable Employer Survey, conducted by Antal International, a global employment service provider, polled more than 3,600 employees in China and found that 66 percent prefer to work for foreign companies.

Sixty-eight percent of those polled work for a multinational or foreign company.

Each respondent was asked which company, excluding their current employer but within the same industry, was the most desirable.

The survey showed that, in the fast-moving consumer goods industry, Coca-Cola, P&G and Unilever are the top three most desirable employers. In the information technology industry, Google, IBM and Apple are the top three, the survey found.

Although no Chinese company was listed in the top three most desirable employers in industries surveyed, the popularity gap between State-owned firms and foreign companies is narrowing, the survey said. Half of the respondents working for a multinational or foreign company would prefer to join a State-owned enterprise.