In 2011, there was consistent growth in salaries across various industries in China as multinational corporations continued to expand into the country, said a recent report by Robert Walters, a world-leading recruitment consulting firm.

Talent shortages coupled with the large number of job vacancies meant that talent retention became a key challenge for numerous organizations.

Jobs advertised in China in the fourth quarter of 2011 shrank by 3 percent from the previous quarter. Nevertheless, Chinese companies are still looking to grow, as demonstrated by a 20-percent increase in job advertisements from the fourth quarter of 2010.

"The outlook in China is cautious yet upbeat as we enter 2012, despite the modest slowdown at the end of last year," said Carter Yang, Managing Director of Robert Walters China. "Recruitment activity is likely to resume as job churn increases after bonus payouts in the first quarter of 2012."