A woman looks out of a window in Shenzhen. About 35 percent of Shenzhen residents polled said they planned to leave for Guangzhou, where homes prices are much lower, according to a recent survey. Qilai Shen / Bloomberg

More white-collar workers in Shenzhen are losing confidence in their jobs this year, with over 50 percent ready to join the army of job seekers as the economic slowdown bears down on certain industries, a recent survey shows.

Shenzhen's Career Confidence Index, which tracks white-collar workers' outlook on their jobs, has dropped to a three-year low so far this year, recording 3.28 (the total score being 5), compared with 3.44 in Beijing and 3.36 in Shanghai, according to the survey by Zhaopin.com - one of the mainland's largest online recruitment agencies.

While 10.9 percent of employees in Shenzhen have already begun looking for jobs, more than 50 percent are preparing to join in.

Workers in the information-technology, telecommunication, electronics and Internet sectors appear to be most confident with their jobs, with the highest score of 3.41, while those in the energy and environmental protection fields have the weakest confidence, with the lowest score of 3.1.

In terms of the nature of enterprises, employees at Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan or international companies are the most optimistic, while those at State-owned enterprises show the strongest pessimism.

An increasing number of white-collar workers are planning to switch professions as the impact of weak economic growth on the mainland is being felt by some industries.

Liu Jing, an architect at a construction company in Shenzhen, is looking to change her career as a designer. Her company's economic performance has worsened considerably amid the slowdown, making her deeply concerned about her future, she said.

"I received about 100,000 yuan ($15,263) in my annual salary in 2014, but the amount fell to 60,000 yuan last year. The situation is expected to worsen this year," Liu said, adding that she's trying to seek a job in the financial industry.

According to an annual report on job hopping by LinkedIn - the world's largest online network of working professionals - 25 percent of job hoppers chose to change their professions last year - up from 24 percent in 2014.

While a gloomy macroeconomic environment has made it more difficult for Shenzhen employees to cope with the high cost of living, spiraling property prices in the city are squeezing their living space.

About 35 percent of Shenzhen residents polled said they planned to leave for Guangzhou, where homes prices are much lower.

Song Ding, director of Tourism and Real Estate Industry Research Center at Shenzhen-based think tank China Development Institute, however, said such a scenario is unlikely to happen.

"Shenzhen's cultural base is different from that of Guangzhou. While Shenzhen is a platform on which multiple cultures come together, Guangzhou represents just Cantonese culture," he pointed out.

"If workers leave Shenzhen because of skyrocketing homes prices, they would rather return to their hometowns than going to Guangzhou."

Amid the gloom, there are positive signs too. With the rapid development of the Internet, the sector is in high demand for talents. The LinkedIn report shows that the job-hopping rate among product managers and research and development workers reached 8.7 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively, last year, ranking among the top three sectors in all positions.

sally@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 03/02/2016 page9)