US investments into China are dropping, shows the latest AmCham survey into the country’s business climate for US companies, reports the South China Morning Post March 2023. And while the number of US companies planning to move out of China is limited, one of the problems hindering investments is a growing reluctance among qualified experts to move to China, the paper reports. New investments have stalled and plans exist to decrease current investments.
American companies are also facing human resource challenges, with more than half of the respondents saying that qualified expatriate candidates were unwilling to move to China – a sharp increase from 30 per cent in the previous year.
Although the survey did not assess how particular events like the prolonged citywide lockdown in Shanghai changed expatriate employees’ willingness to move to China, [AmCham president Michael]Hart said that the “lockdown in Shanghai was just a PR disaster”.
Unconfirmed estimates by US amcham chambers in Shanghai and Guangdong suggested in 2022 the number of expats did drop by about 50 percent.
The full report by the South China Morning Post you can read here.
