This year, 6 in 10 Hong Kong employers have reported difficulties in filling jobs, citing a lack of available talent. A dramatic increase from the 35% reported in 2012, this new statistic requires employers to take a hard look at Hong Kong’s employment outlook.
Across the Asia-Pacific region, employers are struggling to find qualified candidates for open positions. A recent survey reveals that this year more than half of APAC companies admit to difficulties in the hiring process due to skill gaps. While Japanese employers continue to rank highest with talent shortages at 85%, Hong Kong employers may not be too far behind, with a startling increase from 35% in 2012 to 57% in 2013.
The eighth annual Talent Shortage Survey, conducted by ManpowerGroup, analysed responses from nearly 8,600 hiring managers from across Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan.
Hong Kong compared
Currently, Japan still takes the lead in terms of talent shortages, both globally and within APAC, with a rate of 85%. Looking at the region, India comes in second at 61%, but Hong Kong is now not too far behind, coming in at a close third only four percentage points below India. In 2012, Hong Kong mirrored China, whose current rate of 35% matches the global average and is the lowest in the region. Such a sudden increase in talent shortage may mean that Hong Kong employers will need to change their approach to the hiring process.
Shortage areas
So where does the problem lie? For APAC employers, sales representatives continue to be the most challenging positions to fill, with engineers and technicians coming in close behind and fighting tight races for second and third respectively. While in 2012, skilled-trade workers took the fourth position, they’ve been bumped down to seventh, with concern for management and executive positions climbing the list to the current fourth.
Needles and haystacks
For APAC companies, the two main reasons credited for this difficulty in filling jobs are a lack of available applicants and a lack of technical competency. These two shortcomings have been given near equal importance by respondents (32% and 31% respectively) and far outweigh issues such as lack of soft skills (28%) or lack of experience (19%).
Hong Kong companies will need to address this growing issue, and they will need to address it fast. The vast majority—a stunning 86%—of Hong Kong employers believe that this shortage of talent and the difficulties in filling positions is having a medium or high impact on their ability to serve clients effectively. With numbers like these, Hong Kong hiring approaches will need to see drastic changes in the very near future.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
