SHANGHAI - China's most
economically dynamic region, the eastern area including
and around Shanghai, is planning to hire laid-off and
retired skilled workers from Japan.
The booming
region is suffering a shortage of high-level
technicians, and the large pool of unemployed engineers
and technical talent in Japan, due to its sluggish
economy, provides a possible solution.
A
Sino-Japanese skills exchange fair is to be held in June
in Osaka, Japan, aiming to import Japan's advanced
technologies as well as technicians who are urgently
needed at home, said Liu Weigang, an official with
Shanghai's service center for small enterprises.
Liu said the unemployment rate in Japan climbed
to 5.4 percent last year, leaving 3.59 million people
jobless. Many of these people were high-level
technicians in the machinery, electrical and metal
manufacturing sectors, of whom Chinese enterprises are
in large demand.
It is expected
that 50-100 Japanese workers will be recruited this time,
aged from 40-50, Liu said. Because these people are free of
dependent children, they require relatively less pay.
The plan has been warmly welcomed by Chinese
enterprises and the Japanese government. Dozens of
enterprises have registered as prospective employers and
the Osaka local government and Japanese consulate in
Shanghai have given their written support, Liu said.
