Unemployment fears as China's tech sector cuts recruiting

China's leading technology companies, previously a thriving source for new jobs, are showing caution in their recruitment plans. According to the South China Morning Post, Tencent slowed recruitment about three months ago and has stopped outsourcing hiring to third-party staffing agencies altogether. Alibaba reportedly announced last September that it would cut the number of university graduate recruits from 3,000 to 400 and Baidu has confirmed a hiring freeze for experienced people due to the uncertain economic outlook. This trend is fuelling concerns about widespread unemployment: the Chinese Government had counted on online sector jobs to counterbalance the millions of job cuts expected in traditional industries with excess capacity.  

Shenzhen-based Tencent started to slow down recruitment about three months ago. Photo: Reuters