Abstract

Chinese Employment Strategy

Report in 2006—2007:Development of

Labor Market Intermediaries and

Employment Promotion

Xiangquan Zeng

Abstract

Based on the literature review，questionnaire surveys ［questionnaire from 284 recruiting companies，3 165 employees，1 321 job seekers(882 of them are unemployed)］and in-depth interviews(with part of the companies and job seekers)，from the theoretical and empirical perspective，the report conducts a systematic and comprehensive analysis on the following issues of Chinese labor market intermediaries:“The History and Current Situation of Chinese Labor Market Intermediaries”，“The Choice of Job-Search Channels by Both the Employed and Unemployed and Its Determinants”，“The Use of Social Relationship Network，Public Employment Intermediary，Labor Dispatch，and Websites in Individual's Job Search，and Their Impact on Employment Promotion” and “The Prominent Problems Faced by Chinese Public Employment Service Agencies”.The research shows that，as Chinese labor market becomes more and more open，the way of job matching changes and the importance of employment intermediary increase gradually.Social relationship network becomes an important channel for job seekers to get employment information，but the effects vary for different people.Job seekers choose different channels based on their individual characteristics.The labor market intermediaries promote employment by providing job information，while some factors，such as unreliable credit，insufficient information and unfocused service，greatly restrain the effectiveness of Chinese intermediaries on employment promotion.Series of suggestions are put forward to strengthen the infrastructure and platform of Chinese human resource management，construct public employment service organizations and professional teams，introduce performance management in public employment service，enhance the publicity of public employment service organizations，and improve relevant laws and regulations.

Key words: Labor Market Intermediaries，Employment Strategy，Employment Promotion

Ⅰ Research Background

China used to be a planned economic country，which adopted planned personnel management.Therefore，the system of labor market intermediaries is rather immature.Nowadays，even with the rapid economic growth，this problem remains prominent.Previous research has found that，the proportion of natural unemployment to total unemployment is very high(Zeng & Yu，2006)，which means that frictional and structural unemployment is the main component of unemployment.For job seekers，effective job-search methods can reduce both job-search time and costs，improve the efficiency of job-to-person matching，and eventually reduce frictional unemployment.Thus，it is of theoretical and practical significance to carry out study on labor market intermediaries thoroughly and systematically.

Based on the review of previous studies on labor market intermediaries and by conducting literature review，questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews，this report does a systematic and comprehensive theoretical and empirical research on the origin and development of labor market intermediaries both in China and abroad，its function and role，credit system，team building，performance management，regulation and legislations，channels of job-search used by job seekers in different regions and their determinants，and the use of intermediary in insurance industry.This study is expected to provide valuable suggestions for identifying the current situation of Chinese labor market intermediaries，helping job seekers，especially the unemployed to choose appropriate job-search channels，pushing the construction of labor market intermediaries，and implementing effective employment strategy.

Ⅱ Literature Review

As specialized agencies for human capital allocation，labor market intermediaries reduce search costs and risk.Meanwhile，economies of scale in the collection and processing of information can be achieved(Osterman，1999).In theoretical research，the introduction of information economics in the 1970s“broke through”the intermediary inefficiency theory derived from the main framework of classical economics-Arrow-Debreu Paradigm.From then on,economics has begun to show its real concern about labor market intermediaries.Since the 1970s，making use of different analytical frameworks including job-search theory，adverse selection theory，the principal-agent theory and institutional change theory，researchers have discussed and explained the reasons for the existence of labor market intermediaries，their impact on employment and on general welfare，and their relationship with enterprises，workers and the government.

Empirical researches abroad on labor market intermediaries are involved with the determinants of job seekers' choice among different labor market intermediaries，the relationship between labor market intermediaries and employment，and the performance appraisal of labor market intermediaries.Hereinto，empirical researches on the determinants of job seekers' choice among different labor market intermediaries are abundant，especially the determinants of job-search channel choice.The United States Current Population Survey(CPS)data(Eberts & Holzer，2005)，European Labor Force Survey(ELFS)data(Mosley et al.，1997)and the Ford Foundation(Pastor et al.，2001)study are the most representative.It was found that，compared with the formal search channels(e.g.labor market intermediaries)，informal search channels(e.g.social relationship network)was the main job-search method.In general，job seekers may attain higher wages through informal rather than formal search channels like the Public Employment Services(PES).There is substitution between social relationship network and the labor market intermediaries.Based on the working-age population survey in UK，Böheim & Taylor(2002)investigated the use of different search channels and their impact on employment.They found that the choice of job-search channels was affected by demographic factors(e.g.age，skill level，educational level，family income，unemployment duration)and the local unemployment rate.The research on the users of Italian public employment services and its effectiveness by Giann Barbieri，Pietro Gennari and Paolo Sestito(2001)found the factors that influence the application of public employment services were mainly related to demographic factors(including gender，age，education，family status，employment situation of other family members，years after education，job-search channels chosen by other family members，work experience，and the reasons for unemployment，etc.)，labor market characteristics and geographical factors.According to the research of the current employed and unemployed job seekers in Russian labor market，S.Y.Roshchin and K.V.Markova(2004)find that demographic factors(e.g.age，gender，ethnicity，educational level，status of employment or unemployment)and local unemployment rate have a significant impact on the choice of job-search channels.Taking the data of 1994—2002 from the Venezuelan Household Survey，a semi-annual survey collected by the Oficina Central de Estadística e Informática(OCEI)since 1976，Gustavo Márquez and Cristóbal M.Ruiz-Tagle V.(2004)find that demographic factors(including gender，age，level of education，unemployment duration，etc.)and previous employment environment have a different degree of impact on the choice of job-search channels.

Most studies abroad show that the labor market intermediaries have a positive and significant impact on employment.As a nonprofit organization，employment intermediary has a positive impact on reducing unemployment and increasing the employment rate(Thomas，1997; Martin，1997; Denis，2005; Lee，2007).In a competitive allocation market，the public and private labor market intermediaries will increase the re-employment rate(Etienne Campens et al.，2005).In particular，public employment agencies may increase the re-employment rate of the group with low education level and low skills(Denis Fougere et al.，2005).Some scholars hold that private employment intermediaries are more efficient and of higher quality than public intermediaries，and also the development of private employment agencies should be encouraged(Pissarides，1979; William Clark，1988; Peter，1996).Strengthening the government's market-oriented functions and encouraging the joint operation in private employment agencies seem to be a trend(Etienne，2005).The studies on employability enhancement by the labor market intermediaries focus on the impact of intermediaries on career development，staff training and wages.Relying on a survey of telecommunications contractor firms and case studies of eleven labor market intermediaries in three metropolitan regions，Wolf-Powers(2004)analyzed the effect of labor market intermediaries on the employment of the disadvantaged.The results show that labor market intermediaries' success is predicated chiefly on their connections with employers，their adherence to industry wide skills standards，and their ability to offer ongoing support to clients in the form of occupational networking and continuing skills training.Grubb(1996)argued that，according to the evaluation of many public and non-profit training programs，labor market intermediaries had a significant impact on the workers' income，whereas the Ford Foundation(Manuel Pastor et al.，2001) showed that the intermediaries had a small impact on wages after conducting the comparative study on the representative of the knowledge-based economy—the Silicon Valley and the representative of the traditional economy—Milwaukee.

Labor dispatch，as a new relation between intermediary organizations and employment，gains high attention of academia abroad.However，it is controversial about the impact of labor dispatch on the scale of employment.Through an early general equilibrium analysis，Burda(1992)，Hopenhayn & Rogerson(1993)，Saint-Paul(1995)found that reduction of dismissal cost had a negative impact on employment scale，whereas，later by conducting a general equilibrium study，Alvarez & Veracierto(1998)，Mortensen & Pissarides(1999)drew the conclusion that reduction of dismissal cost had a positive impact on the employment scale.As to the impact of labor dispatch on frictional unemployment，there is a general agreement on the conclusion obtained.Most scholars believe that labor dispatch agencies can effectively help the unemployed，especially the temporary unemployed，find new jobs(Segal & Sullivan，1997; Otoo，1999; García-Pérez & Muñoz-Bullón，2005).During the 1990s，ten percent of the new jobs in the USA owe to labor dispatch agency(David，2004)，and the development of this agency is one of the main labor market factors for the low unemployment rate in the late 1990s(Lawrence F.Katz et al.，1999).Their development will not squeeze out formal jobs(Neugart et al.，2002).The impact of labor dispatch on employment quality of dispatched workers is a complex issue.Current research pays more attention to wages and benefits，job security and career development of the dispatched workers.As to the impact on wages and welfare，most studies argue that dispatched workers receive lower wages than the formal staff(Nollen，1996; Segal，1997; Rudolph & Schröder，1997).While in the early 1990s，the study found wages of some dispatched staff(such as typists and bookkeepers)were almost the same as those of their formal counterparts(Cohen & Haberfeld，1993).Current research also states that dispatched workers have generally low job security(Melchionno，1999；Houseman & Polivka，1999； García-Pérez & Muñoz-Bullón，2005).In regard to the influence of labor dispatch on the career development of dispatched workers，foreign scholars regard“stable or long-term employment”as the best career development prospect.Many literatures indicate the job opportunity that labor dispatch agencies offer is a stepping stone to permanent employment(Booth et al.，2002; Neugart & Storrie，2002; Ichino et al.，2004; García-Pérez & Muñoz-Bullón，2003; Houseman,1997).However，Catalina(2005)reaches a different conclusion that most dispatched work is low-technique，and without development potential.The benefit for being engaged in this intermediary translates into an easier access to permanent contracts for individuals in highest occupational category.On the contrary，results also indicate the existence of negative agency workers in the lowest qualification group(Nollen，1996；García-Pérez & Fernando,1997;Segal & Sullivan，1997).

In the 1980s，OECD conducted a survey on the performance appraisal of the services provided by public employment service agencies in different countries(OECD，1984)，and suggested some methods of performance appraisal.Since the early 1990s，OECD has conducted three surveys of several countries with emphasis on a different issue for each time.The first survey examined the performance of public employment services of Japan，Norway，Spain and UK.The second survey examined that of Denmark，Finland and Italy.And the third examined that of Australia，Germany and Sweden.OECD's performance evaluation mainly focuses on the management practice of public employment service agencies.Besides，the World Association of Public Employment Services(WAPES)also launched a symposium to discuss the performance appraisal，and published many reports in which different methods of performance appraisal targeting different countries are suggested(WAPES，1995).In addition，as part of the“International Handbook of Labour Market Policy and Evaluation”，edited by researchers from the Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung Berlin(WZB)，a chapter has been prepared focusing particularly on the evaluation of placement services as a means to improve job matching.It concentrates on the methodology as well as on the findings of studies on performance and impact evaluation of public employment services in different countries(Walwei，1995).In times of budgetary constraints causing financial pressures,public services are required(much more than in the past)to practice“management by results”: to focus on outputs in terms of better“value for money”and to improve organizational responsiveness to clients.As a part of“the International Handbook of Labor Market Policies and Evaluation ”，the symposium discussed the methods on assessing employment service performance，and furthermore evaluated the effects of employment service in different countries(Walwei，1995).Due to the constraint of budget management，public service tends to be“result-oriented”，emphasizing the actual output of input and clients' satisfaction.Performance appraisal has become a key issue to be concerned by public services.Moreover，it has been introduced into the employment services as an important issue of labor market intermediaries research(Walwei，1996).But what should be noted is that，in labor economics literature，studies on performance appraisal and empirical analysis on it are mostly needed(Zimmerman，2004).

Although rigid academic research on labor market intermediaries and on their impact on job seekers is still rare in China，there are some relevant practical investigations and academic discussions.Li & Zhang(2003)did an analysis of the public employment agencies of Guangdong Province by drawing data from the statistical yearbook and population census，and provided a report on the number，classification and functions of public employment agencies，and on characteristics of job seekers.In June 2003，“the report on China's employment agencies development”was published by the Training and Employment Department，Labor and Social Security Ministry，which investigated the development of public employment agencies authorized by the labor and social security branches at all levels.The public agencies they investigated included those affiliated to streets，towns and counties.A total of 12 713 responses were collected from the questionnaire survey(excluding Shanghai).The survey items included basic description，service items，source and release of supply and demand information，and service guarantee of employment agencies.Some Chinese scholars have analyzed and discussed particular intermediaries including social relationship network，campus recruitment and labor dispatch，and have figured out that social relationship network is the main support and channel for labor force migration(Bu，2004).Research on social relationship network focuses on the impact of social relationship network on migrant workers，laid-off workers and other disadvantaged groups.The mobility of Chinese peasants is mostly based on strong trust，and public employment services for peasant workers are seriously deficient(Zhai，2003).During the social transition，social relationship network does not necessarily help the laid-off workers get better jobs(Zhao，2002).Although campus recruitment remains the main channel for graduate job seekers，it has many notable advantages and many problems as well(Zhao，2007).There are certain debates on labor dispatch among Chinese scholars.Some believe that labor dispatch makes flexible employment organizable，which will help solve the problem of supply and demand mismatch，and therefore be conducive to collecting information from the demand side，reduce the transactional costs，and improve the efficiency of the labor market allocation as well(Zhang，2003;Xia & Qiu，2005).Labor dispatch not only provides low-cost employees for enterprises，but also is a new way to alleviate the current severe employment pressure(Zhao，2006).Others argue that labor dispatch amplifies job instability and unemployment risk.Unemployment will further increase as employers sign direct labor contracts only with core employees to keep a minimum number of employees while the employment scale changes with the business cycle，which in turn will increase unemployment(Wang & Hou，2004; Chang & Li，2006).Dispatched workers get relatively low wages，and to some extent，“dispatched”has become an identity of lower wages compared with their formal counterparts(Wang，2005).

As a whole，research on labor market intermediaries abroad is made in a systematic and in-depth way.Some achievement has been obtained wherever in developed countries，developing countries or countries in economic transformation.In contrast，only a limited amount of domestic research on labor market intermediaries has been conducted by Chinese academia.Although some investigations on labor market intermediaries and certain analysis on specific labor market intermediaries have been carried in China，generally speaking，both theoretically and empirically，it is still short of comprehensive and systematic studies on the choice of job-search channels and its determinants.The credit building，professional team building and performance appraisal of labor market intermediary organizations are scarce as well.

Ⅲ Research Questions and Methodology

i Research Questions

Based on literature review both in China and abroad，the report focuses on three research areas and proposes corresponding questions:

(1)Current situation of intermediary organization

●The development of Chinese labor market intermediaries，especially the public employment service organizations in present stage

●The role of Chinese labor market intermediary organization in employment promotion

(2)Empirical studies on job-search channels

●Job-search channels used by employed and unemployed job seekers in Chinese labor market

●The change of job-search channels

●The determinants of individual choice of job-search channels

●The proportion and role of social relationship network，public employment intermediary，labor dispatch and websites in individual job search

●The effect of social relationship network，public employment intermediary，labor dispatch and websites on employment promotion

(3)System construction of Chinese labor market intermediaries

●The prominent problems faced by Chinese public employment service organizations

●The barriers inhibiting the effect of Chinese public employment service organizations on employment promotion

●What should the government do to strengthen the intermediary management?

●What can be done to further improve the regulation and legislation system of Chinese intermediary service?

ii Research Methodology

The methodologies adopted in the report include literature review，questionnaire，statistical and econometric analysis，and in-depth interviews.

(1)Literature review. More than 100 foreign papers and monographs on labor market intermediaries have been read.In addition，the relative regulations and policies on Chinese intermediary，and some archives of intermediary agents have been deep analyzed.

(2)Questionnaire.Based on literature review and pilot interview，according to the contents and requirements of the research，the research group designed 4 questionnaires，namely,“Questionnaire on Enterprises' Use of Employment Intermediary”，“Questionnaire on Current Employees' Use of Employment Intermediary ”，“ Questionnaire on Job Seekers' Use of Employment Intermediary in Public Employment Agencies”and“Questionnaire on Choices of Job-Search Channels for the Registered Unemployed”.The survey is carried in Beijing，Shanghai，and Shijiazhuang.3 165 current employees(1 166 of them are from insurance companies)，284 recruiting units(22 of them are insurance companies)and 1321 job seekers(882 of them are unemployed)are surveyed.

(3)Statistical and econometric analysis. After statistical analysis of the completed questionnaires，6 reports are produced.(See details in Appendix 1“Report on Chinese enterprises' use of employment intermediary”etc.)Through logistic regression analysis，we test the impact of demographic factors，geographic factors and labor market environment on job seekers' choice of job-search channels.(See the econometric model and its results in“Job Search，Labor Market Intermediaries and Employment Promotion—The Evidence from Beijing，Shanghai and Shijiazhuang ”by Xiang-quan Zeng & Yuxue Cui.)

(4)In-depth interviews.The research group conducted in-depth interviews with various organizations，including the Employment Department of the Labor and Social Security Ministry of China，the Talent Exchange Association of National Ministry of Personnel，the Job Center of Beijing Labor Bureau，Haidian Job Center in Beijing，Labor and Social Security Agency of Haidian District in Beijing，Beijing Xinliqiang Employment Service Center，Haidian Trade Union Employment Service Center in Beijing，Beijing Jingyi Co.，Ltd.，ABB，Beijing Sino-Tech Ocean Sci-Tech Development Co.，Ltd，Shijiazhuang Employment Service Center，Suzhou Employment Service Center，Human Resources Development Co.of Suzhou Industrial Park，and Wuxi Municipal Employment Service Center.An interview report with more than 100 000 words are produced.

Ⅳ Conclusion

i More open of labor market，fundamental changes of job-to-person matching，and more important role of intermediary

(1)After 30 years of development，China's labor market intermediary has had a certain scale. China's labor market intermediaries have experienced four stages: period of bud from 1978 to the early 1980s，period of the initial development during the 1980s，period of rapidly further development during the 1990s，and period of open competition since 2000.In other words，after 30 years' development，the labor market intermediaries have reached a certain scale，with the employment agency under the Ministry of Labor and the talent exchange center under the Ministry of Personnel as its main part，and the private and foreign-invested intermediaries as its key components.Shortly after the beginning of open competition，a number of website-based labor market intermediaries have emerged，such as 51job.com，Chinahr.com，and Zhaopin.com.They take advantage of their brands，and form competition and complementation with the public labor market intermediaries.The number of private intermediaries is increasing rapidly.Foreign-invested intermediaries have quickly dominated the high talented market through joint ventures，merger and acquisitions，and combination with private capital.Some data show that by the end of 2001，there were only 419 private talented intermediaries with 2 596 employees in the whole country.While in October 2004，the number of private talented intermediaries attained at 1 100，and there were 26 joint-venture talented intermediaries as well.(See“Continuous Development and Improvement of the Labor Market Intermediaries: Historical Review，Lessons and Future Prospects”by Jian Wang.)

(2)The public labor market intermediaries become more and more open. With the development of industrialization and urbanization，rural labor force migrates to urban areas continuously.Moreover，due to the adjustment of economic structure and the regional imbalance of economic development，the regional migration of labor force is increasing，which speeds up the labor market development and increases the degree of openness.The survey on job seekers of public intermediaries in Beijing indicates that labor market in Beijing has demonstrated a great degree of openness，with 60.0% job seekers from outside of Beijing and only 40.0% from Beijing.(See Appendix 3“Statistical Analysis Report of the Use of Employment Intermediaries by Job Seekers in Beijing”.)Beijing is the political and economic center of China，labor market in Beijing enjoys a high degree of openness.This also shows that，in order to meet the new demand of economic development，public intermediaries have played a key role in promoting employment and re-employment.

(3)The job-search channels of employed have changed greatly.In the early stage of reform and opening，influenced by the“planned recruitment and job allocation”ideology and system，job information and job-to-person matching were achieved through traditional“graduates job allocation”or“planned recruitment”.With the development of the labor market，job-search channels for individuals and the way of job-to-person matching have undergone changes.The survey conducted in Beijing and other cities indicates that job-search channels have gone through dramatic change compared to 5 years ago.The proportion of the usage of job-search on enterprises' websites increased by 8.5%，while the usage of traditional enterprise recruitment and graduates job allocation dropped by 11.5%.In particular，the survey indicated that，most of the employees with a tenure of more than 10 years found the current jobs through the traditional way，as is shown in Table 1.

Table 1Information Channels for the Current Job by Different Tenure

ii The social relationship network is an important information search channel for job seekers，but the effect is different from person to person

The investigation of employees in Beijing and Shanghai shows，social relationship network is mostly used by employees to obtain their current job information，which is the most effective way.Table 2 demonstrates the channels used by employees surveyed in Beijing and Shanghai to get their current job information.

Table 2 Channels Used by Employees to Get their Current Job Information

The report chooses Beijing insurance industry to analyze the use of labor market intermediaries and its influencing factors by Logistic models from micro level.The results show that:(1)For the insurance industry practitioners，the significant factors affecting the choice of job-search channels are the type of products，the practitioners' age，education level and working experience in insurance companies.(2)The basic characteristics of the labor market intermediaries in Beijing are consistent with that in cities of developed countries and regions，such as the United States and the European Union.(3)As a job-search channel，social relationship network is the main substitute for labor market intermediaries.The main competitors of the public employment service agencies are the social relationship network and other informal job-search channels，rather than private employment service agencies.(4)Labor market intermediaries play an important role in promoting the employment of the disadvantaged such as life insurance salesman.

The social relationship network is also very important for the unemployed.The surveys conducted both in Beijing and Shanghai suggest that，as for the effect of job-search channel，relatives and friends are the most helpful，although the employment service agencies are the most highly used.The survey conducted in Beijing suggests that 34.9% job seekers consider relatives and friends as the most valuable source，correspondingly，26% in Shijiazhuang，as is shown in Table 3.

Table 3the Most Helpful Job-Search Channels for the Unemployed

Table 4 shows the results from a Logistic regression analysis，demonstrating the influencing factors of choosing social relationship network as the job-search channel by the unemployed in Beijing and Shijiazhuang.It demonstrates that the lower education level the unemployed have，the more likely they are to use social relationship network to search jobs.

Table 4 Logistic Regression Analysis of the Influencing Factors of the

Unemployed 's Choice of Social Relationship Network

Note:(1)*p<0.10; ** p<0.05; *** p<0.01.

(2)1. Beijing; 2. Shijiazhuang.

(3)Hukou 1: household registration classified into two groups:agricultural and non-agricultural.

(4)Hukou 2: household registration classified into two groups: local and non-local.

The results in the report are similar to the results in Böheim & Taylor(2002). Böheim and Taylor consider，as other conditions are the same，the unemployed are less likely to use informal channels(friends and relatives，and social relationship network)to seek jobs.This may be explained as that，such individuals have less social contacts because of being unemployed，or perhaps they have already exhausted their social relationship networks in previous spells of unemployment.The research on the registered unemployed in Venezuelan by Márquez & Ruiz-Tagle(2004) also shows that，without considering the previous job positions，individuals prefer to use“other”channels，rather than formal ones to seek jobs.However，Zhao(2002)suggests that using social relationship network won't help the laid-off employees to get better jobs during social transformation.Zhai(2003)proposes that strong trust is the basis for peasant workers' migration，and because of that，in cities，where emerge many troops of peasant workers composed of relatives and co-villagers，which creates a special landscape of“numerous floating villages in the cities”.The survey of the unemployed in Beijing and Shijiazhuang shows that the employment service agencies，especially the public employment service agencies，are in shortage of quality service for the undereducated unemployed.In Beijing，the unemployed with low education are less likely to choose employment service agencies to obtain job information，whereas in Shijiazhuang，the lower education level the job seeker has，the more likely he/she is to choose for-profit job centers.If the unemployed can't find suitable jobs from employment service agencies，they will rely on their relatives who they think are more trustful，more reliable and more helpful.Thus，although the unemployed consider the social relationship network as the most helpful way to get employment information，it might not be able to help the disadvantaged，whose human capital is low，to find the most suitable jobs.In order to solve this problem，on the one hand，things should be done to enlarge the coverage of public employment services and improve the quality of employment service in order to fundamentally change the disadvantaged group's heavy dependence on social relationship network for job seeking; on the other hand，they should be trained to increase their human capital so as to enhance their competence to meet the demand of the labor market.

For current employees，social relationship network is the most effective channel to get their current job information.But the use of social relationship network by employees in Beijing and Shanghai shows some differences.In Beijing，the longer tenure the employee has，the more likely he/she is to use social relationship network to get job information，whereas in Shanghai，the choice of social relationship network as a job-search channel is only correlated with the applicant's education level.It is worth noting that，for job seekers with low education level，social relationship network does not necessarily have positive impact on his/her employment.For employees with long tenure and higher education，social relationship network，which has been built，can help him/her find appropriate jobs，reducing job searching costs and improving efficiency.For this group，instead of guiding them to choose different job-search channels based on their education，sex and age，they should be advised to reinforce their social relationship network which has been established and is conducive to their job seeking(Márquez & Ruiz-Tagle，2004).

The survey of college students in Sichuan province suggests that when using social relationship network to search jobs，most college students' first choice is their parents，followed by relatives and friends.(More details can be found in the sub-report“The Research on the Use of Social Relationship Network by College Graduate Job-Seekers”by Dong Yang et al.)

iii Job seekers with different demographics choose different job-search channels

The empirical study shows that the level of education，among all the demographic factors，has the most significant impact on individuals' use of different job-search channels: the higher education level the job seeker has，the more likely he/she is to choose campus recruitment and Internet; the lower education level the job seeker has，the more likely he/she is to choose to make use of the social relationship network.This conclusion has confirmed the findings from the study in Venezuela by Márquez & Ruiz-Tagle(2004)and in U.K.by Böheim & Taylor(2002)，both of which show that job seekers with high level of education were less likely to use informal search channels.Böheim & Taylor(2002)pointed out that the high educated unemployed were less likely to use advertisement than the low educated ones.In China，high educated job seekers often find their jobs through campus recruitment and Internet.Campus recruitment is the most popular channel for graduates from all kinds of universities，colleges and vocational schools.Internet is used as one kind of online job searching intermediaries in recent years，and its clients are always those with high education level，high technical and management skills.

The survey shows that Hukou(household registration)does not have significant impact on job seekers' choice of job-search channels.Only the employees with rural Hukou in Shanghai are liable to get their current jobs' information through paper-based media，which may be explained by their limited Internet skills.This implies that with Hukou disappearing gradually，it is no longer a main factor for job seekers to consider.Besides，the birth place(where the job seekers are from)is another factor to influence the job seeker's choice of channels.For instance，in Shanghai and Shijia-zhuang，the local job seekers are more likely to use employment service agencies，which is a special phenomenon in China.For one thing，the service offered to the migrant workers by the employment service agencies is limited; for another，there is still discrimination towards the migrant workers in the labor market.Some companies still require local Hukou and because of this unreasonable requirement，labor force mobility is restricted.

The age of the job seeker，the tenure of the employee and the duration of unemployment all have significant impact on the choice of job-search channels.The impact of other demographic factors is contingent on different areas and different labor markets.Therefore，it is suggested that job seekers should choose the appropriate channels according to their own situations so as to avoid ineffective employment information searching and reduce the searching time and unemployment opportunity costs，and finally reduce the frictional unemployment.

What is worth noting is that，although there is still gender discrimination in the labor market，the findings suggest that gender has no significant impact on the choice of job-search channels，and only in Beijing the unemployed male are more likely to use employment service agencies，which is largely inconsistent with the findings from studies conducted in other countries.(Specifically)，in Venezuela，male job seekers are more likely to make use of media advertisements and apply directly to the firm for jobs(Márquez & Ruiz-Tagle，2004); in Russia，unemployed female are prone to hunt for jobs through public employment service agencies and through the help from friends(Roshchin & Markova，2004).Although in these countries，gender has a certain influence on the choice of job-search channels，in China，male and female job seekers don't need to take their gender difference into consideration when choosing job seeking channels.

iv The employment intermediary organizations play a role in promoting employment by providing employment information

(1)A prominent feature of our labor market is the short-term unemployment caused by the lack of job vacancy information.Analysis on macro data has shown that natural unemployment is the main component of the total unemployment in China，among which frictional unemployment accounts for a sizeable proportion.The investigation of the unemployed in the public employment service agencies has proved this point.The survey demonstrates that in Beijing the average unemployment duration is 8.94 months，of which 75.2% of the unemployed lost their jobs 1~6 months before，whereas 16.3% lost their jobs more than 1 year before.Even in Shijiazhuang，an underdeveloped area，the case is almost the same.In Shijiazhuang，the average unemployment duration is 5.5 months，and 88.2% of the unemployed lost their jobs 1~6 months before，whereas only 6.9% lost their jobs more than 1 year before.(See Appendix 3“Statistical analysis report of the use of employment intermediaries by job seekers in Beijing”and Appendix 4“Statistical analysis report of the use of employment intermediaries by job seekers in Shijiazhuang”.)

(2)Different employment intermediaries have different impact on different groups' employment.Due to the fact that most of the disadvantaged in the labor market have only received low level of education，they have great dependence on the public employment intermediary service system.The survey has shown that the lower education level the job seeker has，the more likely he/she is to use employment agencies，relatives and friends，direct contact with enterprises，road sign job advertisement and labor dispatch agencies for job information.And the higher education level the job seeker has，the more likely he/she is to use campus recruitment，websites and headhunting for information，as is shown in Table 5.

Table 5Choice of Different Channels by the Unemployed with

Different Education Levels(%)

(3)Public intermediaries remain to be an important channel for the unemployed to obtain job vacancy information.Frictional unemployment results from dynamic nature of the labor market.Therefore，how to provide adequate and valid job vacancy information to job seekers is the key problem to be resolved.The labor market intermediaries，especially the public employment intermediaries，should shoulder the main responsibility and carry on the mission.The survey conducted in Beijing indicates，although different individuals face different problems，as a whole，apart from 46.7% of the unemployed who regard low education level as the detriment for them to find appropriate jobs，32.5% of the unemployed fail to find appropriate jobs because of lack of job vacancy information.In Shijiazhuang，the situation is different.35.2% of the unemployed lost their jobs because of lack of work experience rather than low education level.Nevertheless，33.1% of the unemployed failed to find jobs due to lack of information.Therefore，the validity of job vacancy information has proved to be of great importance.The survey also shows that，at present，employment intermediaries in Beijing play an important role in helping the unemployed to get job vacancy information.In Beijing，the five most frequently used channels for job vacancy information are employment intermediaries，friends and relatives，job advertisements in newspapers and magazines， websites and public recruitment，of which 84.7% job seekers choose to go to employment agencies.In Shijiazhuang，the top five channels for the unemployed to use are employment intermediaries，job advertisements in newspapers and magazines，friends and relatives，websites and public recruitment.Although there is a slight difference in ranking order compared with Beijing，the employment intermediary still ranks the top as 79.9% of job seekers choose to use it.Undoubtedly，the labor market intermediaries in China have played an important role in reducing frictional unemployment by providing job vacancy information，as is shown in Table 6.

Table 6Distribution of Job-Search Channels Chosen by the Unemployed

(4)Labor dispatch is a rapidly developing new labor market intermediary.Theoretical analysis shows that labor dispatch can create more employment opportunities and expand the employment scale by releasing the institutional staffing restriction，reducing overtime work and the substitution of capital and technology for labor，expanding the scale of production，and attracting more investment.The survey shows that，as a whole，the impact of labor dispatch on employment is positive and is therefore conducive to expanding the scale of employment.However，different situations exist in different firms.The survey of enterprises shows that 31.2% of the sample enterprises argue that making use of labor dispatch services increases employment，whereas 17.5% of the sample enterprises think that it causes the reduction of employment，12.5% of the sample enterprises believe that sometimes it causes increase in employment，and sometimes it causes reduction in employment.Otherwise，38.8% of the sample enterprises believe that the development of labor dispatch hasn't caused any change on the total number of employees.13.8% more firms believe that labor dispatch increases employment scale compared to those who believe that labor dispatch reduces employment scale.( See details in“Analysis of Labor Dispatch's Impact on Employment—Employment Scale，Job-Match Cost and Employment Quality”by Hongjian Li & Ziyan Yuan.)

(5)The websites play an increasingly important role in modern labor market intermediaries.The survey of the current employees in Beijing and Shanghai indicates that for almost all employees surveyed，social relationship network and website are the two most effective ways to find jobs.21.4% of the employees surveyed found the vacancy information on their current jobs through websites，which ranked second after social relationship network through which 27.8% of the employees found their current jobs.The survey of job seekers conducted both in Beijing and Shijiazhuang indicates that website is also an important channel for the unemployed to get vacancy information(32.8% in Beijing and 42.4% in Shijiazhuang).The study of the website recruitment by intermediaries shows that recruiting websites operated by intermediaries will reduce frictional unemployment and will have positive impact on regional employment with their higher contact ratio，lower cost and more affluent information.Websites provide job seekers with rich job vacancy information without geographic restriction.Furthermore，web-based job search provides individuals with more affluent information on the current labor market，its demand for specific skills and working conditions.Meanwhile，Internet also provides a shortcut for job seekers to contact enterprises and other people through e-mail or on-line chatting，and therefore improves the efficiency of job searching.Finally，Internet also makes it easier for those passive job seekers to join in the casual job information searching.For the majority of job seekers，the web-based job search is a complement for traditional job search activities rather than a substitute.

As the reduction of job search and recruitment costs，tens of thousands of organizations and individuals use Internet to recruit staff or seek jobs，which implies that both enterprises and job seekers have more choices than in the past.Before reaching a successful match，enterprises can have more and better information of their candidates and job seekers can also have more and better information of their potential employers.By browsing a company's website，a job seeker can obtain more information to make his/her application decision.Also，enterprises can screen CVs(curriculum vitae)online，and verify the educational background and other credentials of the candidates more easily.Consequently，the matching quality—the lowest acceptable productivity for the firm and the lowest acceptable wage for the individual，will be improved.(See details in“Upgrade Strategy on Intermediary Organizations Online Recruitment Capacity —Research on Online Recruitment and Employment Promotion”by Fang Xu et al.)

v Certain factors，including poor credit，insufficient information and non-tailor-made services，constraint the employment intermediaries' role in employment promotion

(1)Credit problem is the main cause for the low acceptance of the employment service agencies.The survey on the current employees both in Beijing and Shanghai demonstrates that 56.6% of the sample employees have never used any employment service agencies，and the primary reason is that they are all doubtful of the credit of the intermediaries.As shown in Table 7，27.7% of the sample employees consider lack of good credit as the reason for their not choosing employment intermediaries as their job seeking channel.

Table 7 Reasons for the Current Employees not Using the

Employment Service Agency

(2)Lack of enough and updated information and quick feedback are the prominent problems existing in employment intermediaries.Currently，most labor market intermediaries in China only act as job seekers' archive keepers and general job information distributors.The survey shows that lack of valid job vacancy information becomes another main cause for job seekers’ not choosing the employment service agencies(23.2%，compared to 27.7% of the credit problem).Due to deficient regulations on compulsory requirement of job vacancies statistics and release，most intermediaries fail to produce valid job vacancy information.Even the limited obtained information is not well classified.In addition，because of the deferred information updating，job seekers who have registered with the public employment agencies usually need to wait a long time before getting feedback，which has a negative effect on their job seeking.The survey on the current employees about how they found their current jobs shows that the top three channels they made use of were social relationship network(32.9% of the total sample)，others(26.8%)and websites(20.7%).In the last five years，the labor market intermediaries greatly improved with 26.1% of job vacancy information coming from social relationship network，which is a decline compared to 32.9% five years ago，as is shown in Table 1.

(3)Public employment services have no clear target.The survey on the unemployed in Beijing and Shijiazhuang shows that，although the public employment services have substantially developed，they don't concern enough about the employment of the disadvantaged.In other words，no effective and concrete measures have been taken to solve the employment problem of this group yet.Such things as the analysis of the reasons for unemployment，following up service，career planning and job seeking counseling are all needed and waited to be done.Because of this，the development of public employment service system benefits the advantaged groups，which causes unnecessary competition between the public labor market intermediaries and their private counterparts，whereas the unemployment of the disadvantaged group is neglected，and this group have not benefited a lot from the public labor market intermediaries as they should have.Tables 8 shows the results from Logistic regression analysis of the choice between charging and free employment agencies by the unemployed.The studies find，for the unemployed in Beijing，the choice between charging and free employment agencies as a channel for job seekers has a low correlation with demographic factors，whereas for the unemployed in Shijiazhuang，the choice of employment agencies as a job-search channel presents a high relation to the education level of the unemployed.The lower education level the unemployed has，the more likely he/she would be to use charging employment agencies.This reflects from another aspect that public employment services in Shijiazhuang including other free employment agencies don't offer enough services to the unemployed with low education level.The conclusion is consistent with the findings from the site study conducted in Shijiazhuang.(See details in“Job Search，Labor Market Intermediaries and Employment Promotion—The Evidence from Beijing，Shanghai and Shijiazhuang”by Xiangquan Zeng & Yuxue Cui.)

Table 8 Logistic Regression Results(of influencing factors of the choices of

charging and free employment service agencies by unemployed job seekers)

(continued)

Note : (1)* p<0.10; ** p<0.05; *** p<0.01.

(2)1.Beijing; 2.Shijiazhuang.

(3)Hukou 1: household registration classified into two groups:agricultural and non-agricultural.

(4)Hukou 2: household registration classified into two groups: local and non-local.

Ⅴ Suggestions on Strengthening the Construction of Public Employment Service System

i It is imperative to construct the infrastructure and platform of human resource management

The effectiveness of Chinese employment intermediary largely depends on the development level of the infrastructure and construction of the human resource management in enterprises and institutions，which includes job analysis and job categorizing，surveys and statistics of job vacancies，employment statistical system of an individual firm.The key of the current development of intermediary organizations is the accurate judgment and the statistics of employment supply and employment demand.The employment demand information of companies cannot be true and accurate without a scientific human resource management system.Therefore，strengthening the construction of scientific human resource management and labor market information system is the precondition to develop labor market intermediaries.Thus，it is necessary to continually increase the investment of public employment service，trying to turn the public employment service into a national integrated data and service platform.International standards should be adopted to regulate the relationship between public employment agencies and private employment agencies.Public employment agencies should be changed into the supervising institutions of private employment agencies.In addition，private employment agencies should be required to provide relevant information about their business so as to integrate data collecting，processing and analyzing.

ii Great efforts should be put in the construction of China's public employment service institutions and the building of a high-quality professional team

With the development of Chinese employment service market system，the public employment service agency is playing a more and more fundamental role in alleviating employment pressure and adjusting structural unemployment in China.But neither the quality nor the quantity of public employment service staff is in accordance with this progress.In 2001，only 40.5% of the staff in employment service agencies had three-year college education level or above，and 50.9% of the staff only had senior-middle school level.The survey of 40 member companies of Shanghai Talent Intermediary Association conducted in 2003 showed that，only 8% of the staff in agencies surveyed had the professional qualification of senior job consultants and only 3% of the surveyed were job consultants.The statistics show that，on average，there are 3 employees in each employment service agency，each of whom provides service for about 12 000 people，2 to 40 times of that in developed countries.And even these employees are not full-time staff，for they have other responsibilities besides employment service.This brings negative impact on employment promotion.The statistics show that，in 2005，the success rate of job-to-person matching by public employment service agencies is only 51%，and that in Shanghai is only 30%.Therefore，it is suggested that the Ministry of Labor and Social Security should enhance the status of the public employment service.For this purpose，a comparatively independent national public employment service agency or center should be established，and its branches should be set up in large and middle-sized cities.Meanwhile，drawing upon the existing research and international practice，studies should be conducted on the competency model of professionals in Chinese public employment service agencies.Early research shows that three orientations should be followed when developing Chinese public employment service agencies and enhancing their staff competency: the institutional functioning orientation，customer orientation and service standardization orientation.According to the two dimensions of significance and imperativeness，the core competency of the professional staff can be classified into two levels: low level competency and high level competency.Low level competency includes moral virtue and professional spirit，communication skills，understanding of the differentials of the diversified customers，capacity of proactive learning and putting knowledge into practice，and analyzing skills.High level competency includes the ability to appraise the market development and expansion，to focus on details and to do research.What should be specially pointed out is that，relevant working experience in labor or human resource management should always be emphasized when recruiting staff for public employment service organizations.(See more details in the sub-report“Building the Specialized and Professional Talent Team of Public Employment Agency in China—Study on the Core Competencies of Practitioners of Public Employment Agency”by Rui Li.)

iii The system and methods of performance management should be introduced into the public employment service management

The introduction of performance appraisal in public employment service can be done in two ways.First，to set up specific objectives to make the outcome of public employment service better comply with its original goals; Second，to make use of the performance appraisal to monitor the input and output of public employment service，and effectively reduce cost and improve efficiency.Studies of the developed countries show that，the foundation of performance appraisal for public employment service in various countries is the goal of their public employment service，that is，to implement management by objectives(MBO)in the public employment service.For example，the main goal of public employment service in France is to collect as many job vacancies as possible from the labor market，and the judgment of service quality depends，to a large extent，on the quantity and variety of the job vacancies provided by the public employment service agencies(INFORMISEP，1994).Therefore，in the performance appraisal in France，the lasting time of a job vacancy and the time needed to fill the job vacancy are important performance indicators.The most imperative task in Chinese public employment service management is to introduce the goal-oriented performance management system，to emphasize the function of employment service for the disadvantaged，to value the statistics and the publishing of job vacancies，and to establish specific，measurable and comprehensive performance appraisal system.(See more details in the sub-report“The Experience and the Enlightenment from Public Employment Service Performance Assessment in Developed Countries and Areas”by Shaoying Hu.)

iv Enhancing the publicity of public employment service organizations

Results from interviews and surveys show that，most of the respondents got the job information in rather passive ways，including“recommended by others”，“accidentally caught sight of when passing by”，“got to know when handing in personal archives or paying for the insurance”.Therefore，it is imperative to promote the publicity of public employment service organizations.Currently，the overrunning of black-market employment agencies，to a large extent，has to do with the poor publicity of the public employment service agencies.Thus，advertising and other appropriate methods should be used to strengthen the publicity of public employment service organizations.

v Perfect the legislations and regulations on employment intermediary organizations

There are several ways to perfect the legislations and regulations on employment intermediary organizations: taking the opportunity of issuing of the employment promotion law，unifying the regulations on employment service issued by the labor department and personnel department; expanding the coverage of the regulation from only regulating the behaviors of employment intermediaries to regulating the behaviors of all the employment service organizations; enhancing the level of relevant regulations，changing the administrative regulations into formal legislations.Correspondingly，the punishment should be changed from administrative penalty and licenses suspense into the legal chastisement，in which job seekers are motivated to play a role in assisting correcting the illegal conducts; free service should be provided by the public employment service organization，and service charge should be prohibited for the private organizations; as the issue of youth employment becomes more and more serious，the new entrants in the labor market should be treated as“a special group”.(See more details in the sub-report“Conflicts between Concept and Reality:the Provision of ILO Employment-Related Service and Its Enlightenment to China”by Lilin Li et al.)

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The Origin and Development of Labor

Market Intermediaries

Weiguo Yang Hongyan Qiu

Abstract

Labor Market Intermediaries(LMIs)originated from private agency，and then regional and national public agency appeared.Because of the several disadvantages of private agency initially，ILO suggested that public agency should monopolize the LMIs industry.However，the monopolization was broken after World War II.Public agency tended to outsource some of its business to private agency，resulting in increasing cooperations and competitions between them.Also，public agency enlarged its own function.Meanwhile，private agency developed dramatically.Many new types of private agencies came into birth.Temporary Help Agency is one of them，which then becomes the most important form of LMIs.In this report，we describe the origin and development of LMIs in chronological order，and analyze the reasons of the development of LMIs from economical，technological and institutional aspects.

Key words：Labor Market Intermediaries，Origin，Development

Literature Review of the Theory of Labor Market

Intermediaries from the 1970s till now

Dinghong Yi Wei Ying

Abstract

More and more attentions have been paid to the advantages of Labor Market Intermediaries(LMIs)(e.g.public employment agency，labor dispatch agency，headhunter，etc.).In theoretical research，the introduction of information economics in the 1970s “broke through” the intermediary inefficiency theory derived from the main framework of classical economics—Arrow-Debreu Paradigm.From then on,economics has begun to show its real concern about LMIs.Since the 1970s，making use of different analytical frameworks including job-search theory，adverse selection theory，the principal-agent theory and institutional change theory，researchers have discussed and explained the reasons for the existence of LMIs，their impact on employment and general welfare，and their relationship with enterprises，workers and the government.This report reviews the economic studies on LMIs from the 1970s and discusses the status quo and the future in this field.From this review，we discover that the studies on LIMs are just in the exploration phase，which are based on Information Economics and Transaction Cost Theory.These studies focus on whether LMIs should exist，the impact of LMIs on employment，the balance between public and private LMIs，etc.This report holds that the review of LMIs theories will promote the studies and provide valuable references for us to understand and solve the problems in the development of LMIs.

Key words：Labor Market Intermediaries，Theory，Literature Review

Service Functions and Operational Modes of Public

Intermediary Organizations in Developed Market

Economy Countries

Guangzhai Shi

Abstract

In the last hundred years，the status，function and model of public employment intermediary changed greatly.Although public employment intermediaries in different countries are common in their function of providing job matching and searching assistance，they have distinguishing features in practice.This report investigates the model and function of public employment intermediaries in the United States，Britain and Australia.

The experiences in the developed countries provide us several countermeasures in the light of future improvement in China's public employment service.Firstly，the government should make an overall plan for employment，social security and economic development in order to enhance the effect of employment service.Secondly，increasing the investment in public employment service is critical for the disadvantaged minority to acquire basic employment service.Lastly，the government should integrate the segmented employment information and establish an integrated network.

Key words：Public Employment，Function，Comparison Research

Continuous Development and Improvement of

the Labor Market Intermediaries：Historical

Review，Lessons and Future Prospects

Jian Wang

Abstract

Labor Market Intermediaries(LMIs)in China have a history of 30 years，which can be divided into four phrases，named Bud Stage，Initial Development Stage，Further Development Stage，and Differentiation and Competition Stage.Public employment service organization，which is represented by employment agencies and talent exchange centers，is the most important part in Chinese employment service system.From labor service companies to employment agencies and re-employment centers，Chinese LMIs enlarge their functions from simple job introduction to the mixture of career instruction，employment training，social insurance and personnel service.Through the systematic retrospection of Chinese LMIs history，we come to some conclusions.Firstly，Chinese LMIs are developed under the employment pressure and the policy promotion.Secondly，the division of talented market and LMIs is a result of the big personnel quality gap and the traditional personnel management system.Thirdly，the transition of LMIs functions follows a mode as “integration—decentralization—integration”，which presents the gradual improvement of LMIs functions.Fourthly，Chinese LMIs will take on some characteristics like diversification，internationalization and market-oriented in the future.

Key words：Labor Market，Public Employment Service Organization，Economic System Reform

Job Search，Labor Market Intermediaries and

Employment Promotion—The Evidence from

Beijing，Shanghai and Shijiazhuang

Xiangquan Zeng Yuxue Cui

Abstract

Based on an empirical research of job seekers' choices among job-search channels in Beijing，Shanghai and Shijiazhuang，this report discusses the relationship among job-search channels，the development of labor market intermediaries and employment promotion.The results indicate the choice of search channels by job seekers is not random，but relative to job seekers' demographic characteristics，and varies in different areas and labor market environment.The report proposes that more effective strategies of employment promotion should be taken according to different demographic characteristics of the employed and the unemployed in different areas and labor market environment.

Key words：Frictional Unemployment，Job-Search Channel，Determinants，Logistic Model

An Empirical Study on Insurance Industry

Use of Labor Market Intermediaries

Zuhao Xia

Abstract

Most researches both domestic and abroad on labor market intermediaries focus on the reason of intermediaries use by organizations.There are few researches about the factors which affect the industry use of labor market intermediaries.This report chooses the insurance industry in Beijing，and adopts the Logistic models to analyze its fundamental characteristics and influencing factors of labor market intermediaries use on the micro level.The results of this paper show that:(1)For the insurance industry practitioners，the significant factors affecting the use of labor market intermediaries include the type of product，the employee's age，education level and the insurance business experience.(2)The basic characteristics of labor market intermediaries in Beijing are consistent with that of developed countries and areas，such as USA and European Unions.(3) As for job-search channels，interpersonal relation is the main substitution for labor market intermediaries.The competition of the public employment services mainly comes from the interpersonal relation and other informal job-search channels，rather than private employment service agencies.(4)The labor market intermediaries play a positive role in the employment promotion of life insurance salesman and other vulnerable employment groups.(5)The full use of the labor market intermediaries is profitable for the professionalization，specialization and internationalization of the insurance company personnel.(6)Chinese insurance industry should fully make the insurance industry association play an active role.

Key words：Insurance Industry，Labor Market Intermediaries，Influencing Factors，Multinomial Logistic Regression

The Research on the Use of Social Relationship

Network by College Graduate Job-Seekers

Dong Yang Yu Peng Zhao Jin

Abstract

“The employment difficulty of university students” has drawn universal attention in the society.At present，the researches of this phenomenon and its deep-rooted influencing factors，especially the human capital，have gained fruitful outcomes overseas.In Chinese culture，the use of social relationship network is the typical behavior of university students during job-search process.However，there are few empirical studies about social relationship network in China，especially the effect of the interaction among human capital，initial social capital，etc.and the use of social relationship network on university students' employment.All these need further discussion.Based on literature review，this report used the open-ended questionnaire to collect items，and then designed the closed questionnaire.674 subjects were surveyed，including current university students，current advanced vocational college students and employed university students.Descriptive statistics，factor analysis，Chi-square test，and variance analysis were adopted in the data process.The results show that:(1)Among all the social relationship networks used by university students，parents are the mostly used.(2)As for the role of social relationship network，parents are mostly helpful for financial support，followed by emotional support.Relatives are mostly helpful for emotional support ，followed by employment information provision.Friends are mostly helpful for employment information provision，followed by emotional support.(3)For the social relationship，most of university students can positively seek help from the social relationship network.Among the acknowledging ways for the social relationship help，“appropriate material acknowledgement” is mostly chosen.(4)There are certain discrepancies among the effects of different variables on the use of social relationship network.These variables include human capital，initial social capital，expectation of employment，career goal and the pattern of work unit，etc.

Key words：College Graduates' Job-Seeking，Social Relationship Network，Social Capital，Human Capital

Upgrade Strategy on Intermediary Organizations

Online Recruitment Capacity—Research on Online

Recruitment and Employment Promotion

Fang Xu Yuanyuan Sun Weiying Sha

Abstract

Labor Market Intermediaries(LMIs)have played an increasingly prominent role in promoting labor flexibility and employment.With the rapid development of web economy，online recruiting has been the mainstream of all kinds of recruiting channels in intermediaries.This study empirically explores how to promote the employment through improving the intermediaries' online recruiting capability.Through the investigation on the current online recruiting market in China，the study analyzes the key factors that affect the behavior of e-recruiting applicants and enterprises，the standard system that is used to evaluate the capability of the intermediary's online recruiting，and the promotion role of regional employment played by the intermediary's online recruiting.In addition，the study puts forward some concrete suggestions on how to improve online recruiting capability，and also forecasts the trend and threat of online recruiting in the future.

Key words：Labor Market Intermediaries，Online Recruiting，Employment Promotion

Analysis of Labor Dispatch's

Impact on Employment

—Employment Scale, Job-Match Cost

and Employment Quality

Hongjian Li Ziyan Yuan

Abstract

Labor dispatch has been developing rapidly in China during recent years, and its effect on employment has brought various concerns and debates. Based on the relative literature from both domestic and abroad, the questionnaire survey and in-depth interview, this report mainly focuses on the relationship between the behavior of three labor dispatch parties and the development of labor dispatch, discusses the effect of labor dispatch on employment scale, job-search cost and employment quality, and proceeds to analyze the underlying reasons of these phenomena.

The research results show that, the demand of enterprise is the fundamental motivation of labor dispatch development, and the main reason that enterprises use labor dispatch service is to decrease the cost and reduce the risk. As a whole, the effect of labor dispatch on employment scale is positive,but its effect is not obvious on decreasing job-search duration or cost. In the aspect of employment quality, labor dispatch plays a negative role. The wages and benefits of dispatched workers are low, their chances of becoming formal workers are rather small, and the opportunities of their career promotion are very limited. Job security is also hard to guarantee. Therefore, it is necessary to enhance the entrance level of labor dispatch institutions, make appropriate limitations of labor dispatch application, and establish relevant laws.

Key words:Labor Dispatch, Employment Scale, Job-Matching Cost, Employment Quality

Study on Headhunter's Matchmaking

Effectiveness in China

Yu Zhou Jinyu Jia

Abstract

Economic globalization and international competition cause the increasing competition and mobility of talents. As a kind of intermediary for talents allocation, headhunter is more and more prominent in speeding talents mobility and improving better match between talents and enterprises. However, comparing with the prosperous development of headhunters, there is a huge shortage of specific empirical and theoretical researches on headhunters. Based on limited previous studies and focusing on the headhunters in China's talented market, this report gives analysis and conclusions in three aspects: Firstly, by doing a holistic investigation on the effectiveness of headhunters in China, we find the headhunters have great effects on talent-organization matching in China, but the talents driven by headhunters are mostly mid-level (such as sales managers) rather than top-level (such as CEOs). Headhunters' matching functions have more satisfaction with the candidates’ career development, while less with enterprises' labor demand. Secondly, by empirical testing on the effectiveness of headhunter's several specific matching practices, we find the factors of “building resources and professional competences” and “understanding demand and supply information” take significant positive effects on the matching effectiveness, while the factors of “privacy protection and political coordination” and “dressing up talent and making negotiation chemistry” have limited effects on the matching effectiveness. Thirdly, the report points out some typical traits of current headhunter industry, which are as follows: (1) the quality of headhunters in China is diversified; (2) there is lack of mutual communication and cooperation among headhunters;(3) the regulation system of headhunter industry in China is substantially absent. Lastly, the report gives several suggestions:(1) Chinese headhunters should further reinforce their professional competency and focus on the function of talent-searching & matching as the core business instead of extending into additive HRM consulting service.(2) Chinese headhunters should build up clear and right position strategy with sufficient operational ration to avoid short-term sightless actions. (3) Chinese headhunters could play a main role to initiate the actions to boost construction of industrial regulation system with the support of the government.

Key words: Headhunter，Matching Effectiveness, Labor Market Intermediary，Labor Market

Drawing on Foreign Experience,

Establishing and Improving China's Credit

System of the Talent Agencies

Kuang Tang Fan Yin

Abstract

Under the background of the economic globalization, the talented are becoming the most valuable resource. The talent agencies are one of the important parts of the labor market, which are the key to the construction of the labor market. The credit is the most essential issue for the talent agencies. Strengthening the credit construction is not only the urgent demand to keep the talent agencies to develop quickly and healthily, but also the basic premise to have them play their due role. Based on the summary of the experience in building credit system of the talent agencies in USA, this report aims at investigating the current problems of the credit system of the talent agencies in China, anatomizing its current situation and restraining factors, exploring the solutions to the problems, and helping our society build up a canonical and healthy credit system of the talent agencies.

Key words: Talent Agencies, Credit, Credit System of the Talent AgenciesBuilding the Specialized and Professional Talent

Team of Public Employment Agency in China

—Study on the Core Competencies of

Practitioners of Public Employment Agency

Rui Li

Abstract

With the development of employment service market system in China, public employment agency plays a more and more prominent role in relieving employment pressure and adjusting structural unemployment. However, public employment agency practitioners are in short supply and at a lower quality, services provided by them is also at a lower level, which causes the service level, service mode and service content of public employment agency are all in a rough shape. This report begins with a review and summary of related research and well-known competency models of public employment agency practitioners. And then, it contrasts IAEVG 11 core competences with other famous ones, confirming IAEVG 11 core competences as the general competencies in developed countries. What is more, on the basis of practical researches, this report puts forwards three factors that have mostly influenced the development of public employment agency. This report also comes up with the conclusion that we should be oriented by agency responsibilities, customers' need and service standardization to improve the competences of public employment agency. Furthermore, this report classifies 10 core competences for professional practitioners in terms of importance and impendence into primary and advanced competence requirement based on the questionnaire data. Meanwhile, this report suggests the government should make effort to construct the competency model of public employment agency practitioners, and use it as a guild to recruit, select and train.

Key words: Public Employment Service, Professional Practitioner, Core Competencies

The Experience and the Enlightenment

from Public Employment Service Performance

Assessment in Developed Countries and Areas

Shaoying Hu

Abstract

With the economic globalization and development of information, the performance evaluation of public employment services becomes an important issue in reality. The experience in the performance evaluation of the developed countries and regions includes four points. Firstly, the laws about performance evaluation have been enacted. Secondly, performance evaluation emphasizes the need of clients. Thirdly, there are many kinds of methods of collecting data. Lastly, perfect indicator index of performance evaluation has been set up. On the basis of the experience and interviews with some departments of public employment services in China,this report makes the suggestions that the system of performance evaluation should be based on target management; the function of service for clients (mainly including those who are hard to find jobs) should be enforced; the perfect and quantitative indicator index of performance evaluation should be set up; and the system of collecting and releasing data of the labor market information should be set up, especially the job vacancy data.

Key words：Public Employment Services, Performance Evaluation, Indicator Index

Conflicts between Concept and Reality: the

Provision of ILO Employment-Related

Service and Its Enlightenment to China

Lilin Li Hongyan Qiu Xia Zou

Abstract

Employment service is one of the most important issues of the ILO since its foundation in 1919. However, the road of regulation on employment service organizations took by ILO is rather devious. The ILO, in one of the first standards adopted just a few months after its inception, tried to establish the principle of the monopoly on placement. The ILO claimed that providing information and placement was the responsibility of the public service. Private firms should not be allowed to profit financially from placement. But years later, ILO began to accept the role of private agencies in the functioning of labor markets. In this report, we will review the history of the ILO's conventions and recommendations on employment services and explain those changes. Then we will look at the current situation of labor market intermediary's regulations in China, and analyze the problems compared with ILO's regulations. Finally, some policy suggestions on the revolution of labor market intermediaries in China will be given.

Key words:Employment Service Organizations, ILO, Regulations