The mainland's first job fair directed at Taiwanese was held on Saturday in Xiamen, Fujian Province, with hundreds of job-hunters flocking to the fair in hope of snapping up one of 500 vacancies on offer.

The job fair, organized by human resources companies across the Taiwan Straits, was especially open to Taiwanese graduates and professionals.

More than 200 job-hunters attended the fair, including about 100 students and professionals from Taiwan, as well as 100 Taiwanese studying in universities on the mainland.

Lin Jia-yi, a Taiwanese college student, was one of many job-hunters travelling between different company booths at the job fair.

A recent graduate of Taiwan National Chengchi University, Lin is focusing on the mainland for her career.

"There are many more job opportunities here than in Taiwan," Lin said. "Though I may earn less in the short term, my career prospects are very attractive."

About 50 mainland and mainland-based Taiwan and overseas companies and institutions had over 500 vacancies on offer at the fair.

Wang Jianzhong, an official with Kunshan Human Resource Centre from East China's Jiangsu Province said: "We didn't find the suitable professionals we needed today, but we did get valuable information about the expectations and needs of Taiwanese people in relation to their career development on the mainland."

"Job information about the mainland is still not transparent enough for Taiwanese talent, which has been the main obstacle for them starting their careers here," said Steve Tsai, chief executive officer with Pan Asia Human Resources Management and Consulting Corporation, the fair's Taiwan organizer.

"So the human resources organizations on both sides should co-operate to offer more information to help them," Tsai said.

"Both sides are trying to make this kind of cross-Straits job fair a regular event," added Tsai.

"The gap in salary between Taiwan and the mainland has caused many Taiwanese students to go back to work on the island after they graduate from mainland universities," Zhao Shi-Cong, president of Taiwan Students Union, said.

Zhao said generally, a monthly salary of NT$20,000 to 30,000 (US$619-929) is available for graduates with bachelor degrees in Taiwan, while they would only receive 2,000 to 3,000 yuan (US$250-374) on the mainland.

According to him, about 9,000 to 10,000 Taiwanese students are studying at mainland universities.

Taiwanese professionals who are working in Xiamen can also enjoy a number of favourable tax regulations issued by local government, said officials with Xiamen Local Taxation Bureau.

For instance, the threshold for individual income tax for Taiwanese people working on the mainland is 4,800 yuan (US$600) starting from this year, which is 3,200 yuan (US$400) higher than that of their mainland peers.

Statistics from the bureau indicate more than 3,000 Taiwanese people are working in the city.

(China Daily 04/10/2006 page3)

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