Students who are graduating seek jobs at a career fair in Neijiang, Sichuan province, on Dec 6, 2020. [Photo by ZHENG ZHIBO/FOR CHINA DAILY]

BEIJING, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Despite disruptions by the COVID-19 epidemic, hiring demand in China saw an uptick last year, bucking a global downward trend, data from social networking platform LinkedIn showed.

In 2020, demand for recruitment by Chinese enterprises increased 26 percent from 2019, compared with a drop of 35 percent globally, according to LinkedIn data and surveys of about 5,500 global human resources managers.

About 76 percent of Chinese companies said they have recruitment plans for the following year, while 33 percent of the surveyed firms said they boosted their post-epidemic hiring budget, the data showed.

The epidemic has also facilitated a new way of working, with 45 percent of the surveyed firms offering opportunities to work from home, the data showed.