As one of the most developed cities and economic hubs, Beijing is advanced in tertiary industry and finance industry. On one hand, Beijing’s tertiary industry occupies 71.3% of its GDP, which makes this city the leading post industrial city in China. On the other hand, finance is of vital importance when talking about the leading industries of Beijing. By the end of 2010, 793 financial organizations in Beijing produced 128.6 billion RMB revenue, which means the 11.6% of the entire financial industry revenue of the entire country. It also weighs 13.8% of Beijing's GDP, the higher percentage of that than all the rest of Chinese cities.
Rapid Growth
Beijing's nominal GDP was 1186.5 billion RMB in 2010, which increases by 12.3% compared with that of the previous year. Its GDP per capita was 67,612 RMB, increases by 10.1% compared with the previous year. Beijing's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries achieved 11.8 billion RMB, 274.3 billion RMB, and 900.4 billion RMB respectively. Beijing also managed to achieve 26,738 Yuan in terms of urban disposable income per capita, which increases by 11.5% compared with that of the previous year.
In addition, Beijing got a real increase of 8.2% in term of per capita pure income of rural residents with the total sum 10,300 RMB in 2010 while its per capita disposable income of the 20% low-income residents 16.7% triumphs over the growth rate of the 20% high-income residents with a remarkable 11.4 percentage points higher. The Engel's coefficient of Beijing's urban residents in 2009 accounted for 31.8% and that of the rural residents was 32.8%, with a slight declination by 4.5 percentage points and 3.9 percentage points, respectively, compared with those of 2000.
It has been several years since Beijing’s real estate and automobile sectors started to flourish. In 2010, a large amount of housing real estate up to a total of 28.032 million square meters was sold, with an equivalent of 175.88 billion RMB. 2,146,000 cars were registered in Beijing in 2010, of which 1,540,000 were privately owned (increasing by an average rate of 18.7% per year).
The Beijing CBD, located at the Guomao area, has been well-received as the city's new central business district. A wide range of corporate regional headquarters, hopping precincts, and high-end housing are centered here. For instances, the Beijing Financial Street, in the Fuxingmen and Fuchengmen area, is a traditional financial centre, and Zhongguancun, which is called "China's Silicon Valley", holds a safe lead in electronics- and computer-related industries. At the same time, Yizhuang, which is located to the southeast of the urban area, is appearing as a new center in pharmaceuticals, IT, and materials engineering.
Job Opportunities for International Students
With more and more people from overseas attracted by the economic opportunities available in China, the market still buoyant and as certain sectors open up, such as Banking & Financial Services, Accounting and Legal there will continue to be demand for foreign talent, particularly if you have the language skills. If you have a good attitude and can maintain your sense of humor, working in Beijing will give you the kind of cross-cultural experience that today's globally minded employers value.
The market is fairly buoyant and many multinational companies are still relocating to China and other companies who are already located in Asia are moving their Asian headquarters to China. According to the exit and entry administration of the Beijing municipal public security bureau, the number of foreigners staying in Beijing for longer than six months at the end of October was 110,000. Among that total, there were 40,000 workers, 30,000 students, 30,000 foreigners who are not on a work or study visa and 10,000 diplomats and their relatives.
Foreign-invested enterprises, as international firms are called, employ about 85% of the expatriate workforce. Approximately, 25% of the jobs are in sales and marketing; 25% in engineering; 25% in management, including accounting and finance; another 10% are doctors and IT jobs make up about 5%. Only a small percentage of expatriates work for Chinese companies, primarily as engineers or managers in high-tech manufacturing firms.
Besides, there are also a great number of schools and language training organizations in Beijing as well as China recruiting foreigners as teachers or teaching assistants.
Useful tips for foreign candidates
Fluency in written and spoken English is a necessity and a certain level of Mandarin is an advantage. The best-paying jobs require the ability to speak Mandarin. Positions that require fluent spoken and written Mandarin tend to pay more than the same job without the language requirement.
To employers, the ideal expatriate worker would have the right mix of technical experience, soft skills and bilingual skills. Skills in demand include technical skills (including both IT and complex manufacturing processes), financial skills (including CPA credentials and expertise with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAPP), international marketing experience, financial managers who are familiar with WTO rules, and experienced lawyers who are experts on international trade laws.
Besides, Chinese employers are more accepted academic degrees granted by domestic institutes and MBBS, Engineering and Business graduates are enjoying increasingly popularity in Chinese job market.
Environmental-Friendly Pattern of Development
The development of Beijing continues to proceed at a rapid pace, and the vast expansion of Beijing has created a multitude of problems for the city. Beijing is known for its smog as well as the frequent "power-saving" programmers instituted by the government. Citizens of Beijing as well as tourists frequently complain about the quality of the water supply and the cost of the basic services such as electricity and natural gas. To reduce air pollution, a number of major industries have been ordered to reduce emissions or leave the city. Beijing Capital Steel, once one of the city's largest employers and its single biggest polluter, has been moving most of its operations to Tangshan. By the series measures in improving the environment in operation, Beijing government has finally added some green color in its way of development.
