Management jobs for Hong Kong people on the mainland are increasing because the wage gap between expatriates and local Chinese has narrowed.
Increasing numbers of Hong Kong professionals are taking up management jobs across the border, even in smaller cities, said San Lee Yiu-wah, China managing director of MRI Worldwide, an international executive search organisation.
'I see more companies in China willing to hire more Hong Kong people now. In the past, there was a big salary gap, so the locals questioned why Hong Kong people got such high salaries [in their companies]. That used to create lots of problems.'
The salary gap for middle managers between Hong Kong people and local staff on the mainland has narrowed to less than 30 per cent, from more than double five years ago, she said.
A shortage of qualified mainland professionals dramatically drove up their salaries, Ms Lee said. Although multinationals are concentrating their offices on the mainland, the number of local Chinese hired by them has not increased very much, she said.
Five years ago, Hong Kong people accounted for 60 per cent of the middle managers hired by multinationals and local firms on the mainland, MRI's studies found. That proportion has shrunk to about 35 per cent, while Taiwanese account for about 30 per cent, with the rest taken up by other foreigners and local Chinese.