"Over the last decade, we have also witnessed an over tenfold increase in the number of candidates from the US and Europe overall that want to come to work in Asia. The economic slowdown in the West has resulted in their interest in moving here, in search of greener pastures".

"With demand by both multinationals and Asian companies converging onto a limited pool of sophisticated and skilled senior executives in the region, compensation packages are likely to be under pressure to increase," said Pagan Van, managing partner of CTPartners Hong Kong. "While Japan and Hong Kong were once considered home to the top salaries in the region, executives located in China can command some of the top compensation packages today."