When looking at the Asian Job Index for 2Q 2016, which tracks job advertisement volumes, there is both positive and negative news. This index takes into account ad volumes both in national newspapers and recruitment platforms in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, China and Singapore. It is published by the recruitment firm Robert Walters.
Singapore had a six percent year-on-year growth in job advertisements, while China had 17 percent growth, Taiwan had five percent growth, and Hong Kong had 13 percent growth. Malaysia was the only one with a decline of five percent.
While the job advertisements increased overall in Singapore, there was a decrease of 24 percent in administrative job advertisements when comparing this year’s second quarter to the second quarter of 2015. This is because companies in Singapore moved lower-level administrative positions to less expensive offshore locations.
For other industries in Singapore, the news is better. IT professionals are still in high demand and the advertisements were up 19 percent year-on-year. The areas of cyber security, project management, technical sales and program management all increased.
Overall, exports and investments have slowed down in Singapore, but tourism and increased public spending on infrastructure projects have grown. This meant more work for engineers, finance and marketing professionals.
Multinational corporations are interested in Southeast Asia due to the relatively higher growth potential and Singapore offers a great way for them to get into the area. The government has been making efforts to persuade companies to set up regional offices in the country. These offices helped grow advertised jobs in various functions, especially in those which provide regional support.
As per the Asian Job Index, the employment market in Asia as a whole is positive with demands in HR, technology, marketing, accounting and finance.
- HR job ads increased by 19 percent.
- Accounting and finance ads went up 12 percent.
- Sales personnel ads went up three percent and Marketing went up 19 percent.
So though some areas may be growing more slowly, the point is that they are growing.