Expatriates Move To China

By Frank Mulligan, Talent Software

In Hong Kong they are all a tizzy about the fact the city is becoming less attractive to top foreign professionals, or expats as we normally refer to them. The South China Morning Post has the story but you need a subscription to get to the article.

The latest figures indicate that the number of western expatriates working and living in the city fell dramatically last year. The reaction that I have seen online seems to point the finger at things like air pollution, income taxes rises, living costs, housing costs and so on.

But surely this misses the point that the expatriates are all moving to Mainland China. The War for Talent in China doesn’t just apply to local China citizens.

With the exception of the Americans, who stopped coming to Hong Kong earlier, expatriates all begin to slide off the scale around 2001, when China joined the WTO. The recent decline may just signal the shift from the early adopter companies to the main stream.

I haven’t seen the numbers for China recently but just the fact of living here is sufficient to understand that the numbers of expatriates in China has risen massively over the past few years. There was a time when I would know almost everyone at an American Chamber meeting.

Now I am lucky if I know 5%.

Comments to: frank.mulligan@recruit-china.com