Renewable Supply-Chain (BYD, Hymson) is in a Hiring Frenzy Post Zero-COVID in China - Job Posting Data Shows

"BYD is on a spree to expand its workforce." - Jan 2023 Recruiting data.

China is on a mission to create jobs in 2023. With 19.3% young people's unemployment rate in 2022 and 16.6 mil young people expected to join the workforce in 2023, the government is targeting the creation of 12mil new jobs. As we mentioned in the previous post, China's 2023 economic strategy emphasizes more on structural development than top line GDP---solving structural employment problems is part of this strategy.

Unique job posting data from BigOne Lab showed that the # of job postings on major recruitment platforms in China increased moderately post Chinese New Year. While recruitment activity has mostly returned to pre-Covid levels seen in 2020, the overall momentum remains weak compared to 2021 and 2022. The total number of jobs posted in Jan-Feb 2023 decreased by 23% year-on-year compared to the same period in 2022. Notably, the number of new jobs posted on major recruitment platforms has remained subdued since the second half of 2022.

Renewable Energy Sector Leading the Job Creation Race

More granular data showed that some companies are significantly expanding their hiring as they entered January 2023 despite overall sluggishness. Top companies with the greatest expansion in hiring are those that benefited from sector-wise tailwinds. The industry cluster that has the strongest momentum is the renewable energy value-chain (e.g. solar panel value-chain, EV value-chain). Most of them are local companies. Out of the millions of companies tracked in the dataset, we saw two companies that were especially worth highlighting: Hymson Laser (海目星激光 SH:688559) and BYD Auto (比亚迪 HK:1211).

Hymson Laser: Well-known among the watchers of the solar energy industry, Hymson Laser is a hidden champion of the market. The company produces laser equipment that is used during the production of solar inverters and lithium batteries. It saw a 2,300% jump in job postings in Jan 2023 compared to that in Dec 2022, a sign that Hymson is pushing out more equipment to its downstream clients in solar equipment and lithium battery makers. This is especially remarkable since Jan is the month of Chinese New Year, typically not a good time for hiring.

BYD Auto: With a whopping 402% month-to-month increase in hiring in January 2023, BYD was leading the charge of job creation within enterprise-scale companies (10,000+ employees). From production to distribution, BYD was concurrently preparing for its ramp-up of EV car sales to not just the domestic market, but also European and American markets.

The majority of BYD's new job posts were in the "Manufacturing" and "Sales" departments. Manufacturing and sales positions scored the greatest month-to-month gain in hiring positions.

BYD's ambition was not only targeted at the domestic market. Data showed that the majority of the new job posts were in Shenzhen, followed by Hefei, Xi'an and Jinan.