Upbeat hiring forecast | All sectors showing positive hiring prospects

Seasonally adjusted data from the survey reveals Hong Kong’s Net Employment Outlook stands favorably at +19%. Hiring prospects weakened slightly quarter-on-quarter by one percentage point but improved moderately year-on-year by four percentage points.

While 21% of the 814 employers surveyed expect to add employees over the next three months, only 2% predicted reducing staffing levels. Nearly three out of four anticipate no employment changes over the next quarter.

Employers in all six industry sectors reported positive hiring intentions in Q2 2011. Quarter-over-quarter, employers in four industry sectors report softer hiring plans, whilst year-over-year; employer confidence in five industry sectors continues to strengthen.

Lancy Chui, Managing Director of Manpower Hong Kong, Macau and Vietnam Operations explained, “Once again…employment prospects have continued to remain steady. In addition, GDP growth, which expanded briskly by 6.8% in the third quarter of 2010, has helped strengthen the job market, pushing down the latest unemployment rate to 3.8%, the lowest since Q4 2008.”

Employers in the Finance, Insurance & Real Estate sectors report the most hiring optimism for the second quarter of 2011, with a solid outlook of +23%, representing a steady hiring picture quarter-over-quarter and a considerable improvement of nine percent year-over-year.

Chui added, “The latest news emerging from the finance sector is the HKSAR’s burgeoning reputation as an offshore RMB center, with experts predicting that yuan-related business will generate approximately 58,000 jobs in Hong Kong over the next few years. In addition, financial firms continue to add to their staff rolls as they continue to compete for market share in China.”

“Active hiring plans indicate a gradual economic uptick in employers hiring confidence throughout Asia. We also see that banking, insurance and real estate are feeling the talent crunch with strong demand for talent with specific skills and they are struggling hard to both recruit the right talent and retain employees,” said Chui, “The longer-term hiring trend places employment prospects in a generally positive light, particularly in the private banking, wealth management, telemarketing, front-line sales, financial planning and management trainee roles.”

Jobseekers are likely to encounter a favorable hiring climate in the Service Industry sector with a positive outlook of 21%. The sector includes professional and business services; IT, accounting, legal, education, health services, leisure, hospitality and food services. “In the IT sector, given the popularity of smart phones, the territory is beginning to see a rising demand for mobile application developers,” added Chui.

“Consumer enthusiasm in the luxury products or services, and the remarkably strong 9.6% expansion of China’s GDP in the third quarter of 2010 are likely to continue benefiting Hong Kong’s tourism, hotels and related industry sectors,” highlighted Chiu. “Strong growth has further driven companies in the Services sector to add workers to cope with their expansion plans.”

Employers in the Mining and Construction sector continue to forecast an upbeat hiring pace in Q2 of 2011, with an Outlook of +19%. Chui extolled, “Strong workforce demand is fueled by infrastructure work such as several railway projects. Meanwhile, we note that the labor shortage is so acute that employers are turning to the last resort of recruiting inexperienced workforce and providing them with on-the-job training in order to keep projects moving ahead.”

Job prospects continued to be hopeful, according to employers in the Wholesale & Retail Trade industry sector; +18%, it is the only sector reporting improved outlook over last quarter. “Similarly, the Retail sector is benefiting from the ever-growing influx of mainland China tourists, consumer enthusiasm is particularly strong in luxury products,” said Chui.

Chui added, “On the flip side, some concern on the part of employers remains in the Retail Trade sector. Despite an obvious turnaround to the positive, Hong Kong retailers continue to endure some of the world’s most expensive retail space and the scarcity of prime units continues to push rental increases accordingly. Upon renewal, rents at some prime retail locations such as Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok have risen 80% to 100%. This is an ongoing cost consideration and another factor that may impact employers’ ability to hire.”

Employers in the Transportation & Utilities, and Manufacturing sectors forecast a steady hiring pace in the second quarter of 2011, both with outlooks of +14%. Chui said, “Government statistics indicate there is a continuous upward trend in passenger traffic which may have contributed to the Transportation sector’s 10 percentage point improvement when compared with Q2 2010. Employment prospects of both the Transportation and Construction industry sectors should continue to be optimistic.”

While Western economies are recovering, a slower external trading environment and softer consumer demand from the US and Europe continue to impact the Manufacturing Sector. Chui said, “We expect to encounter additional challenges with worker shortages, rising wages and competition from other low-cost regions all combining to further weaken hiring confidence in the Manufacturing Sector. Any changes in the external trading environment and global market will directly pressure employer hiring expectations. Nonetheless, hiring activity has increased throughout 2010 and only time will tell if healthy demand for workers will continue throughout 2011.”

In the Asia Pacific region, hiring plans continue to be strongest in India, Taiwan and China and weakest in Japan. Globally, nearly 64,000 employers in 33 of the 39 countries and territories surveyed expect positive hiring activity in the second quarter of 2011. Forecasts are strongest in India, Taiwan, Brazil, China, Turkey and Singapore. In contrast, employers in Greece, Spain, Ireland and Italy report the weakest forecasts globally.