Asia shows some increase in job ads
It is not all doom and gloom for job markets in Asia, if the latest Robert Walters Asia Job Index is anything to go by.
According to the Robert Walters Asia Job Index for Q1 2009, the number of job advertisements for professional positions was 6.2% lower than the previous quarter across Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Japan. However, with the exception of Japan which showed a month on month decline, job advertising picked up by 27.6% during the quarter as companies took the opportunity to recruit high-quality talent from the increased number of available professionals on the job market.
Mark Ellwood, managing director of Robert Walters Asia explains the drop in recruitment advertising at the start of the quarter was due to organisations waiting for budgets to be approved, headcount numbers to be confirmed and bonuses to be paid. Also, the recession is a factor which caused the slowdown in hiring. He says “the second and third quarters tend to be the busiest periods of the year for hiring”.
Hong Kong experienced low job advertising at the start of the year due to Christmas and Chinese New Year. However, advertising picked up immediately and sectors that showed particular strength included retail as well as legal, compliance and accounting disciplines, particularly active as a result of the increased reporting and regulatory compliance.
Matthew Bennett, Director at Robert Walters Hong Kong, comments: “After a slow start to the year, some organisations are now starting to focus once again on profitability and growth, instead of cost cutting. The redundancies that we have seen have not only created a merry-go-round of roles internally but have also led to an increased availability of talent on competitive terms. This means that anyone looking to hire at the moment is in a strong position.”
Singapore was less affected by the festive period and the number of job advertisements remained rather static. However, there was an increase in advertising for some sectors like accounting as a result of the need to control costs and comply with new regulation and reporting standards. In addition, there was an increase in the demand for business development professionals in the retail and tourism industries due to the casino and leisure projects. Engineers, architects and technicians were also highly sought after the rise in government funding for infrastructure projects.
Andrea Ross, Managing Director, Robert Walters Singapore, comments: “We have not seen a further deterioration over that experienced during the final quarter of 2008, but it is important to realise that demand was not significantly higher. There is still evidence that points to the fact that recruitment remains focused on cost cutting rather than business generation. More data will be needed, which means the Q2 figures will be especially interesting.”
In China similar to Hong Kong, advertising dropped during the festive period but picked up in February and March, with the retail, tourism and hotel sectors showing some strength. There was also a strong increase in advertising for jobs in the IT industry due to multinationals outsourcing their IT requirements to China.
Carter Yang, Director of Robert Walters China, comments: “We have detected a certain amount of caution in junior level recruitment advertising, although professional recruitment services are still very much in demand when seeking to attract quality talent for senior and mid-management positions. The long term economic prognosis for China remains relatively positive and most industries were increasing their advertising spending by the end of the first quarter.”
The number of job advertisements in Japan continued to decline in the quarter, indicating it is the worst affected market in Asia. Due to the country’s reliance on exports, the recession has caused even stable industries like accounting to reduce recruitment. But due to the country’s ageing population, the pharmaceutical industry was still active and there was still ongoing demand for creative talent.
“There are now some extremely talented candidates looking for work, who are prepared to be flexible. This will undoubtedly present opportunities for far-sighted employers,” comments Kevin Gibson, managing director of Robert Walters Japan.
Source: Sandbox Advisors, Robert Walters, HRM
