The instability of the economy across Asia has not curbed organisations from hiring new talent, with levels of job advertisements for professional positions continuing to increase by 11.8% from Q1 to Q2, representing an annual growth of 7.5%.
The statistics, revealed by the Robert Walters Asia Job Index for Q2 2012, suggest that economic activity in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, China, South Korea and Japan has not slowed as sharply as has been widely reported. Property management has continued to be a source of strength, particularly in China, up by 14.8%, as a result of rising consumer purchasing power and the steady demand for luxury goods, which has led to an investment in retail infrastructure such as shopping malls and hypermarkets. Interestingly, the requirement for editors and reporters in China has also increased by 25.4%, reflecting the growth of the media sector, in particular social media and the need for strong and original online content.
Advertisements for accountancy and finance professionals were up in China, 13.6%, Hong Kong, 10.4%, and Singapore, 11%, representing the ongoing demand for higher standards of regulatory reporting in the region. The Index also shows that multinational corporations in Asia have been up-skilling as companies are relying even more on the region for growth, indicating that, on the whole, Asia is experiencing more of an employment churn than employment growth. This is particularly evident in Hong Kong, where a large proportion of advertisements were not for new roles but rather companies seeking to ‘up-skill’ and recruit professionals with stronger business skills and contacts.
Matthew Bennett, Managing Director, Robert Walters Hong Kong, Taiwan & Thailand said, “Businesses that are suffering in the West are looking to Asia to make up lost revenue and this is putting pressure on management to gain market share without significantly increasing headcount. Therefore we are seeing a trend of ‘up-skilling’ as firms seek to replace underperformers with
professionals who are better qualified to take the business forward and grow the bottom-line.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
